Examining the Auditory Selective Attention Switch in a Child-Suited Virtual Reality Classroom Environment

Carolin Breuer (), Karin Loh, Larissa Leist, Stephan Fremerey, Alexander Raake, Maria Klatte and Janina Fels
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Carolin Breuer: Institute for Hearing Technology and Acoustics, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
Karin Loh: Institute for Hearing Technology and Acoustics, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
Larissa Leist: Cognitive and Developmental Psychology, University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany
Stephan Fremerey: Audiovisual Technology Group, Technische Universität Ilmenau, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany
Alexander Raake: Audiovisual Technology Group, Technische Universität Ilmenau, 98693 Ilmenau, Germany
Maria Klatte: Cognitive and Developmental Psychology, University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany
Janina Fels: Institute for Hearing Technology and Acoustics, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 24, 1-20

Abstract: The ability to focus ones attention in different acoustical environments has been thoroughly investigated in the past. However, recent technological advancements have made it possible to perform laboratory experiments in a more realistic manner. In order to investigate close-to-real-life scenarios, a classroom was modeled in virtual reality (VR) and an established paradigm to investigate the auditory selective attention (ASA) switch was translated from an audio-only version into an audiovisual VR setting. The new paradigm was validated with adult participants in a listening experiment, and the results were compared to the previous version. Apart from expected effects such as switching costs and auditory congruency effects, which reflect the robustness of the overall paradigm, a difference in error rates between the audio-only and the VR group was found, suggesting enhanced attention in the new VR setting, which is consistent with recent studies. Overall, the results suggest that the presented VR paradigm can be used and further developed to investigate the voluntary auditory selective attention switch in a close-to-real-life classroom scenario.

Keywords: auditory selective attention switch; binaural hearing; virtual reality; children (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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