Personalization in Audio Storytelling within Virtual and Augmented Reality: State of the Art and Insights

Abstract

Storytelling and narrative are essential components in diverse contexts ranging from entertainment to culture and knowledge. With the progressive evolution of communication, stories also started to be transmitted through digital media. In particular, the emerging and promising field of sonic interactions in virtual environments (SIVE) fosters the creation of immersive experiences in which personalization of user interaction and narrative content can help create engaging and interactive storytelling. The insights presented here aim to define a state of the art of available interactive audio technologies for storytelling and to illustrate the role of audio in augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) personalized experiences by reviewing a selection of published works. Moreover, we will try to disclose the most important elements enabling an immersive experience and to explain how interactivity, emotional and personalized content help convey messages in the context of serious storytelling. Finally, we will investigate the limitations of the available methods by also outlining some promising research directions.