Audio augmentation of car journeys to improve occupants' well-being

Car interiors are often designed with the aim of being as quiet as possible. This has the benefit of eliminating most of the unwanted sound such as engine or tyre noise, but it also blocks out environmental sounds which might be perceived as positive and even desirable. Bringing in some of these positive sounds - particularly of nature or human activity - could enhance the experience of both the driver and the passengers. The literature has shown that being exposed to pleasant soundscapes has the potential to aid recovery from stress and is associated with lower heart rate than being exposed to unpleasant soundscapes. Therefore, increasing pleasantness of the sound environment in the car could lead to improved well-being. We will report on an immersive audio-visual listening experiment investigating how listeners perceive journeys augmented with realistic soundscapes. To increase realism and ecological validity, the experiment uses spatial audio, 360-degree videos presented through a virtual reality headset, and a car seat with vibrations corresponding to the presented drive.