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User Experience in an Interactive Music Virtual Reality System: An Exploratory Study

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Book cover Bridging People and Sound (CMMR 2016)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 10525))

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Abstract

The Objects VR interface and study explores interactive music and virtual reality, focusing on user experience, understanding of musical functionality, and interaction issues. Our system offers spatio-temporal music interaction using 3D geometric shapes and their designed relationships. Control is provided by tracking of the hands, and the experience is rendered across a head-mounted display with binaural sound presented over headphones. The evaluation of the system uses a mixed methods approach based on semi-structured interviews, surveys and video-based interaction analysis. On average the system was positively received in terms of interview self-report, metrics for spatial presence and creative support. Interaction analysis and interview thematic analysis also revealed instances of frustration with interaction and levels of confusion with system functionality. Our results allow reflection on design criteria and discussion of implications for facilitating music engagement in virtual reality. Finally our work discusses the effectiveness of measures with respect to future evaluation of novel interactive music systems in virtual reality.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We define prototype as any representation of a design idea, regardless of medium, and artefact as the interactive system being designed [20].

  2. 2.

    Content produced by production duo Commands, assets available on SoundCloud.

  3. 3.

    Other groups self-assessment items were included for VR experience and interactive sensor experience, but group numbers of novice and expert were highly skewed so are not evaluated here.

  4. 4.

    Although collaboration is not a feature of Objects VR, the factor must be kept to preserve the CSI scoring structure.

  5. 5.

    Lack of normality in the data means non-parametric statistics were chosen for all tests of significance. It was considered to transform the data, but the sample sizes per group in the sample would question the validity of any results. Collaboration factor is not discussed.

  6. 6.

    http://www.gold.ac.uk/music-mind-brain/gold-msi/.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to give thanks to Stuart Cupit and the development team at Inition for guiding the initial technical development of the interface. This project was funded by the EPSRC and AHRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Media and Arts Technology (EP/L01632X/1), and the EU H2020 research and innovation project Audio Commons (688382).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Centre for Digital Music (Room Eng 111), Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, UK

    Thomas Deacon, Tony Stockman & Mathieu Barthet

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  1. Thomas Deacon
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  2. Tony Stockman
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Correspondence to Thomas Deacon .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire PRISM, CNRS-AMU, Marseille, France

    Mitsuko Aramaki

  2. Laboratoire PRISM, CNRS-AMU, Marseille, France

    Richard Kronland-Martinet

  3. Laboratoire PRISM, CNRS-AMU, Marseille, France

    Sølvi Ystad

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Deacon, T., Stockman, T., Barthet, M. (2017). User Experience in an Interactive Music Virtual Reality System: An Exploratory Study. In: Aramaki, M., Kronland-Martinet, R., Ystad, S. (eds) Bridging People and Sound. CMMR 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10525. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67738-5_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67738-5_12

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