[A project and publication from University of York researchers focuses on how to design audio experiences in virtual reality to create more effective presence experiences. See the original version of the story for a 1:46 minute gameplay demonstration (also available on YouTube) and find more videos in the article’s supplementary material. –Matthew]

[Image: Figure 3 from Constantin Popp et al., Creating Audio Object-Focused Acoustic Environments for Room-Scale Virtual Reality, Applied Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.3390/app12147306. Screenshot showing an area in Planet Xerilia. The collision-based system is implemented in the “water” droplets, here visible as randomly rotated white small squares, which fall from the area’s ceiling. Once they collide with the floor, they disappear and make a “splash” sound.]

Study shows audio experience in virtual reality can be ‘authentic’

August 3, 2022

Researchers at the University of York have shown that creating sound in virtual reality that mimics people’s everyday interactions with the ’real’ audio-visual world has benefits over a movie-type sound experience

Experts, as part of the University of York’s XR Stories project, have proposed a new sound strategy to developing virtual reality (VR) environments, based on how people receive images and sounds in the real world, ultimately improving user experience and reducing the risk of VR motion sickness effects.… read more. “Study shows how to make audio experience in virtual reality ‘authentic’”

[A new app for Quest headsets uses passthrough augmented reality as well as virtual reality, along with hand tracking, to teach people how to play the piano, as reported in this story from Classic FM. See the original version for the mentioned 9:29 minute video review (also available on YouTube) as well as a shorter demonstration video. For more details, see coverage from UploadVR. –Matthew]

[Image: Source: UploadVR]

Music in the Metaverse – learn to play the piano in this new augmented reality app

This new VR game is the piano’s answer to Guitar Hero, but the controller is your own hands…

By Sophia Alexandra Hall, @sophiassocials
August 8, 2022

Billed as, “the next evolution of the world’s most popular instrument”, PianoVision is an app designed to “accelerate your piano learning using Passthrough AR and hand tracking”.… read more. “Presence and music: Learn to play the piano in this new AR/VR app”

[Here’s a fascinating story about new evidence demonstrating that virtual reality can evoke “self-transcendence” – a “sense of deep connectedness and ego attenuation” (which sounds like a rich form of social as well as spatial presence) that is also created by “LSD or psilocybin (the main psychoactive component of ‘magic’ mushrooms).” See the original story in MIT Technology Review for a 1:13 minute video (also available via Vimeo). –Matthew]

[Image: Credit: MS TECH | SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY (CT/MRI IMAGE)]

VR is as good as psychedelics at helping people reach transcendence

On key metrics, a VR experience elicited a response indistinguishable from subjects who took medium doses of LSD or magic mushrooms.

By Hana Kiros
August 6, 2022

Fifteen years ago, David Glowacki was walking in the mountains when he took a sharp fall. When he hit the ground, blood began leaking into his lungs.… read more. “VR is as good as psychedelics at helping people reach transcendence”

[Presence scholars usually focus on illusions created by digital technologies, but physical tools and materials can be used to evoke presence too (as in paintings, drawings, and sculptures). Today’s post is about buildings designed and built or remodeled to create a presence illusion. The February 2022 story below from New York City’s Gothamist describes what appears to be “a pretty typical residential townhouse” in Brooklyn Heights but is actually a subway fan plant and emergency exit (the story also describes a videogame based on the unusual ‘house.’ A 2010 story from Curbed New York includes a familiar term in a quote from the author of a now-inaccessible Brooklyn Eagle story about the house: “It reminds me of the automated parking garage in Hoboken [New Jersey] that is supposed to blend into the neighborhood look/feel but doesn’t quite cross the Uncanny Valley.”… read more. “Architectural presence: Houses that aren’t homes”

[Without using the terms telepresence or teleoperation, this story from Stanford University includes vivid descriptions of the experience of remotely operating a new sophisticated underwater humanoid robot as it explores ocean depths. See the original story for two more images and two four-minute videos. –Matthew]

[Image: OceanOne^K with its boom camera in hand near a Beechcraft Baron F-GDPV aircraft that was 67 m down (over 200 ft). Credit: Frederic Osada/DRASSM/Stanford]

Stanford’s OceanOneK connects human’s sight and touch to the deep sea

The diving robot explored sunken planes, ships, and a submarine, and descended nearly 1 km. Special features of OceanOne^K allow its operators to feel like they, too, are interacting with these deep-water destinations.

By Taylor Kubota
July 20, 2022

As the underwater robot OceanOne^K carefully navigated toward the upper deck railing of the sunken Italian steamship Le Francesco Crispi about 500 m below the Mediterranean’s surface this month (roughly a third of a mile), Stanford University roboticist Oussama Khatib felt as though he himself was there.… read more. “Stanford’s OceanOneK connects human’s sight and touch to the deep sea”