Audio is incredibly important to VR design as it is incredibly important in immersing a user in the environment. Casey Fictum states that it is often 50% of the design process in VR and from research I have conducted looking through the Oculus documentation and their research that they have conducted it is clear that audio is an incredibly important part of the design process as it allows for the user to understand their surrounding spatially through another sense. Adding to the depth of immersion that they feel. On that note through their are several key points to be acknowledge when doing this. A person has an understanding of where an audio source should come from in VR and as such it is important that all audio sources are correctly placed around the user. for example a footstep from the user should not come from around them but below them and as such the audio source should be place at the foot of the character controller.
This is the same for other interactions such as the heart beat I have implemented when checking the pulse rate of a casualty. In this instance I am using an audio que to help direct the user in understanding the rhythm that a heart can beat at. This allows for a more tactile understanding for the user. Of course this is not so in real life but it can be used to associate the feeling in a controller with the users other senses so that they are more readily available to identify the heartbeat. In my application I have designed it so that this can be disabled as the user progress in skill and as such audio ques like this are designed to enhance the experience for a beginner first aider.
Voice Over
Also there is another consideration in VR. Reading is often recommended to be avoided due to the screen door effect of VR headsets. The screen door effect is a phenomenon almost exclusive to VR it is due to the user being so close to the screen that they can see the gap between the pixels of the screen. This can induce eye strain on the user when using and especially when reading in VR. So to combat this I thought it would be a good idea to look into other ways of providing long form information to the user.
Voice Overs are often used in games to increase the immersion for the user. In this case it will allow for more complex information to be passed to the user without the need for them to strain their eyes or struggle to read in VR. The next step for me was to look into the order of operations that a user would take I did this through the creation of storyboards for the user interactions. Seen here. I used the storyboards I had created to develop a Script which would be used to provide the specific Voice Over elements for a tutorial scenario for the first aid primary survey which is one of the most important elements of providing first aid.
I have included a copy of the script below which outlines each interactions and the step that it corresponds to in the tutorial scenario the primary survey:
Conclusion
Together audio and voice overs can be used to improve the immersion for user. Doing this in the situation of my application will lead to the improve quality of training and speed up the teaching of certain skills for first aid. I plan on implementing this into my prototype scenario as it will show more clear the direction that I plan to take with the inclusion of audio in my project.
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