Amuse or annoy? : perceived emotion of 3D moving sound

Abstract

This research focuses on perceived emotion of 3D moving sounds following pre-determined linear and rotating trajectories. Selected instrument sounds (e.g., Violin, Trumpet, and Flute) and 8 sound effects (bass drop, cheers, drum beating, explosion, glass breaking, helicopter, riser, and thunder) were studied. Results show that making the sound source rotate caused higher-reported scores in Arousal and Valence categories. For emotional preferences of instrument sounds, linearly moving sounds were reported to be sadder and shyer, rotating sounds were reported to be more scary, and the original stationary sounds was reported to be happier. Rotating sounds were divided into circular (rotate around a center) and spinning (rotate by itself) and although they received similar responses, spinning sounds were reported to be more comfortable, with fewer approaches to ears. Linear sounds were categorized into looming (from far to closed) and receding (from closed to far) with the latter described as weaker and less threatening, due to the final position of the sound. Significant differences in emotional ratings were found between sounds moving along linear trajectories and rotating trajectories (p<0.05). This suggests that the movement of an audio source can significantly affect the associated emotional feeling of the listeners. The possible applications of the findings in 3D sound creation in Virtual Reality applications are discussed.

Date of Award	2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology