In this paper ‘presence’ (a sense of ‘being there’ in a mediated environment) is proposed as a global metric with which to evaluate audio displays that are part of advanced multi-modal media systems. An evaluation of different audio mixes using a self-report measure of presence, the ITC-Sense of Presence Inventory, and standard audio/visual quality evaluations is described. The results indicate that ratings of presence and audio/visual quality are enhanced by either the addition of bass or increase in volume. However, none of the ratings (with the exception of audio-related enjoyment) were elevated by increasing the number of audio channels. Our study demonstrates that presence is a useful quality metric that can be used in conjunction with more conventional audio measures to evaluate and optimize audio displays.
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