TY - GEN
T1 - Exploring the Appearance and Voice Mismatch of Virtual Characters
AU - Choi, Minsoo
AU - Koilias, Alexandros
AU - Volonte, Matias
AU - Kao, Dominic
AU - Mousas, Christos
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 IEEE.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - We know that a voice that matches the appearance of a virtual character can positively impact how people interact with that character. However, although virtual characters and the human interactions with them have become more common, how mismatches in the appearance and voice of virtual characters could impact aspects of human perception toward virtual characters is underexplored. Thus, we conducted a 2 (appearance: human vs. robot virtual character) × 2 (voice: human vs. robot voice) within-group virtual reality study (N = 21) to explore how appearance and voice factors could impact how study participants rate the anthropomorphism, animacy, likability, perceived intelligence, and perceived safety of virtual characters. In our study, we instructed our participants to co-solve a jigsaw puzzle with the help of a virtual character, which we scripted to solve the jigsaw puzzle as efficiently as possible. Our results showed that in the presence of a human voice, the mismatching in the appearance and voice of the virtual character could still provide positive results in anthropomorphism, likability, and perceived safety, indicating that the human voice plays a critical enhancing role in how humans perceive a virtual character that is non-human in appearance.
AB - We know that a voice that matches the appearance of a virtual character can positively impact how people interact with that character. However, although virtual characters and the human interactions with them have become more common, how mismatches in the appearance and voice of virtual characters could impact aspects of human perception toward virtual characters is underexplored. Thus, we conducted a 2 (appearance: human vs. robot virtual character) × 2 (voice: human vs. robot voice) within-group virtual reality study (N = 21) to explore how appearance and voice factors could impact how study participants rate the anthropomorphism, animacy, likability, perceived intelligence, and perceived safety of virtual characters. In our study, we instructed our participants to co-solve a jigsaw puzzle with the help of a virtual character, which we scripted to solve the jigsaw puzzle as efficiently as possible. Our results showed that in the presence of a human voice, the mismatching in the appearance and voice of the virtual character could still provide positive results in anthropomorphism, likability, and perceived safety, indicating that the human voice plays a critical enhancing role in how humans perceive a virtual character that is non-human in appearance.
KW - Human computer interaction (HCI)
KW - Human-centered computing
KW - Interaction paradigms
KW - Virtual reality
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85180368877
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85180368877#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1109/ISMAR-Adjunct60411.2023.00118
DO - 10.1109/ISMAR-Adjunct60411.2023.00118
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85180368877
T3 - Proceedings - 2023 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct, ISMAR-Adjunct 2023
SP - 555
EP - 560
BT - Proceedings - 2023 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct, ISMAR-Adjunct 2023
A2 - Bruder, Gerd
A2 - Olivier, Anne-Helene
A2 - Cunningham, Andrew
A2 - Peng, Evan Yifan
A2 - Grubert, Jens
A2 - Williams, Ian
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 2023 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality Adjunct, ISMAR-Adjunct 2023
Y2 - 16 October 2023 through 20 October 2023
ER -