Binaural Audio in Hybrid Meetings: Effects on Speaker Identification, Comprehension, and User Experience

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

In 2020, we have witnessed global experimentation of remote co-working, co-learning, and co-habiting, leading to the re-emergence of a collective search for platforms and paradigms that can optimally coalesce the virtual and physical settings - what has been studied as "hybrid models". In this context, we examine the opportunities that the advances in Spatial Audio techniques can create to improve hybrid meetings. Concretely, we present a controlled study in which 84 participants used an online platform to follow six pre-recorded semi-scripted dialogues. The videos were around two minutes long and each of them simulated a piece of conversation in the physical meeting room among three actors who played the role of co-located attendees. The six videos represented six conditions: three auditive formats, (x2) once co-located attendees wore face masks, and once without masks. We compared the experiences of the participants (remote attendees) in these six conditions. Analyzing three types of data, namely, comprehension/memory test results, self-reported ratings, and eye-tracking, we have found reinforcing evidence that demonstrates the benefits of binaural audio in hybrid settings.