Investigating the Auditory Selective Attention Switch using Matrix Sentences in VR

General

The audio-visual Auditory Selective Attention VR - Long Stimuli (avASAlongStimuli) project serves to investigate the extensions by matrix sentences of a paradigm on the auditory selective attention switch in a close-to-real-life classroom setting. This dataset consists of a Unity project and Matlab code used to collect data on the voluntary switching of auditory selective attention in a virtual reality classroom scenario.

The dataset contains:

    Unity project for audiovisual display and the experiment structure    Matlab code for experiment preparation and HpFT measurement    Data collected in the experiment (experiment performance, head tracking)

Experiment preparation using Matlab

The code and software used to prepare the experiment is provided in the folder "matlab_avASAlongStimuli".

The Matlab code used to prepare the trials for each participant as well as to measure the HpTFs. For the HpTF measurements, the  ITA Toolbox for Matlab was used and is provided (https://git.rwth-aachen.de/ita/toolbox). A developmental version of Virtual acoustics (VA) 2022a (https://www.virtualacoustics.org/VA/overview/) is provided.

Software requirements:

    Matlab 2020a or higher    ITA Toolbox for Matlab installed

Experiment conduction in Unity

The Unity project is provided in the folder "unity_avASAlongStimuli".

Therefore, a virtual classroom with some basic furniture is provided. The used models, prefabs and plugins can be found in the Assets folder.

The acoustic stimuli for the task were created using Voicemaker (https://voicemaker.in/).

This Unity project was intended for the use in virtual reality using an HMD and respective controllers for input. However, it can also be used on a desktop pc. The mode can be changed using the "VRMode" toggle as described below.The audio reproduction is realized using the Unity plugin for Virtual Acoustics (VA, http://www.virtualacoustics.org/ and https://git.rwth-aachen.de/ita/vaunity_package).

Software requirements:

    Unity 2019.4.21.f1.    SteamVR 1.19.7    Virtual Acoustics v2022a, VAUnity: https://git.rwth-aachen.de/ita/VAUnity

Data evaluation

The collected data is provided in the folder "dataEvaluation_avASAlongStimuli". This folder contains two types of data: the raw data collected in the experiment (reaction times and error rates), the head tracking data.