Abstract: Audio­-only augmented reality system for social interaction

Tom Gurion
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan

Nori Jacoby
Hebrew University, Jeruslam; Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan

We explore new possibilities for interactive music consumption by proposing an audio-only augmented reality system for social interaction. We designed and built an Android application that measures the relative position of the device from specially designed Bluetooth beacons. Participants can freely move the beacons that are installed on physical objects, thereby dynamically changing the structure of the music in the virtual space. In a controlled experiment, we assessed the interactive component of the system in the context of a silent rave party by comparing the system positioning readings in interactive and non-interactive control segments. We also directly assessed the user experience using self-reported pre/post surveys. Our preliminary results show that in the post-party survey, participants self-reported significantly higher levels of movement using the system, compared with their behavior on other parties as reported in the pre-party survey. We used the relative positioning system in the application to objectively validate that the interactive components of the system facilitate greater participant movement in space, thereby offering more frequent opportunities for social interaction. Indeed, in the post-party survey participants reported that they danced significantly less with people that they knew ahead of time, compared with their pre-party survey reporting of usual behavior. Our results displaying the potential of using audio-only augmented reality in future mobile applications.

Keywords: Augmented reality, Music technology, Social interaction, Relative indoor positioning system