QExE: a quality and experience evaluation tool for audiovisual VR perception, behavior, and cognition research

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The interactive nature of virtual reality (VR) challenges many assumptions of conventional audiovisual quality evaluation approaches, necessitating tools and methods that account for user agency, temporal coupling, and context. We present the Quality and Experience Evaluation (QExE) Tool for interactive VR. Several quality evaluation methods, additional questionnaires, behavioral and interactivity data collection, and the ability to load multiple suitable audio rendering plug-ins are included. The tool streamlines the evaluation process by automatically creating test items that include audiovisual media such as object-based or multichannel audio and three-dimensional (3D) spatial scenes or 360 ° videos. Utilizing a 3D game engine in tandem with control software, the method, questionnaire, and interactivity data can be saved to subject-specific sub-directories. Prior research utilizing the QExE tool is described, along with a novel case study investigating the effects of a VR training scheme on cognitive load, audio plausibility, and interaction behavior. This study demonstrates that the QExE tool can be effectively employed to collect perceptual, cognitive, and behavioral data for subjective evaluations in interactive VR environments.