Enhancing Emotional Effectiveness of Virtual-Reality Experiences with Voice Control Interfaces

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) systems are becoming widespread, and can create deeply immersive experiences. Although the visual component of VR systems mimics the user’s presence in virtual spaces, dialogue control systems used in VR experiences are often adapted from older media. When selecting dialogue, older systems can break the illusion of presence in the virtual space, which is particularly jarring in interactive narratives. Using a voice control dialogue system may preserve this illusion and therefore enhance the emotional impact of narrative experiences. We evaluate this hypothesis on participants playing the same game that were assigned to use either a voice recognition or a more traditional point-and-click style interface. We find that the use of voice control with VR enhances the game’s emotional impact and users’ perceived enjoyment, as measured through a post-experiment survey instrument. We also present interesting qualitative results from interviews with participants. Our findings suggest that incorporating voice control into interactive VR narratives could improve their appeal for both consumer markets and psychological applications.