Does Audio Make Mixed Reality Dark? Audio Dark Patterns, Detection, and Futures in Virtual–Physical Commerce

The metaverse transforms multimedia engagement, altering user perception in blended virtual-physical environments. In these immersive spaces, deceptive designs using audiovisual cues to manipulate user choices can be highly successful. This article explores the design space of manipulative techniques, known as dark patterns (DPs), specifically within metaverse e-commerce applications. We evaluate user interactions with manipulative designs through two exploratory mixed reality studies, revealing how audio DPs effectively manipulate users' attention, surroundings, and perceptions. To combat this, we implement a prototypical detection model for malicious audio cues. Preliminary results demonstrate that users are highly vulnerable to audio DPs, with a 40% susceptibility rate, highlighting the urgent need for detection models (which achieved an F1-score of 0.74). Following a survey on counteracting manipulative e-commerce scenarios, our study's findings reinforce the clear need for robust design guidelines to mitigate audio-enabled DPs in mixed reality and to improve overall user awareness.