eprintid: 79369 rev_number: 20 eprint_status: archive userid: 2980 dir: documents_old/00/07/93/69 datestamp: 2026-04-29 16:13:40 lastmod: 2026-04-29 16:16:29 status_changed: 2026-04-29 16:13:40 type: article metadata_visibility: show contact_email: sarah.rosskopf@ur.de creators_name: Mesz, Bruno Alejandro creators_name: Roßkopf, Sarah creators_name: Mühlberger, Andreas creators_name: Stärz, Felix creators_name: Blau, Matthias creators_name: van de Par, Steven creators_name: Kroczek, Leon O. H. creators_orcid: 0000-0002-8352-0946 creators_orcid: 0000-0002-5588-5067 title: Aurally impressed, yet not more stressed: On the relationship between audiovisual realism, social anxiety, and presence in a virtual social stress scenario own_urn: urn:nbn:de:bvb:355-epub-793691 own_doi: 10.5283/epub.79369 ispublished: pub subjects: ddc_2_150 institutions: fak06_01 institutions: fak06_01_11 full_text_status: public keywords: Psychological stress; Cortisol; Social anxiety disorder; Acoustics; Heart rate; Speech; Attention; Audio equipment abstract: Binaural auralizations can create spatial hearing impressions that closely resemble real sound sources, enhancing immersion and realism in virtual environments. Although social interactions often involve emotional responses such as stress (e.g., during a job interview), the interplay between emotion and binaural auralizations in virtual social interactions remains underexplored. Therefore, we investigated the effects of audiovisual realism in a virtual social stress scenario based on the Trier Social Stress Test. Acoustic realism was manipulated between subjects using head-tracked binaural auralizations and a diotic condition. For binaural auralizations, simulated binaural room impulse responses were based either on individual or generic head-related impulse responses. Stressfulness was also varied: a control group performed a task with reduced cognitive demand and social-evaluative threat by only “testing” a virtual job interview scenario and reading aloud preformulated answers. Social presence, stress responses (measured by salivary cortisol, heart rate, and self-reports), and gaze behavior were assessed in 78 participants. The virtual scenario reliably induced stress across all audio conditions compared to the control version. Binaural auralizations were rated as more externalized and realistic than diotic audio, but did not significantly influence social presence, stress responses, or gaze behavior. Social presence increased with higher social-evaluative threat and over time. Social anxiety was associated with greater social presence, altered gaze behavior (shorter latencies), and, to some extent, stronger stress responses. It also interacted with the auralization type in affecting social presence. Overall, enhancing acoustic realism with externalized auralizations did not affect stress or presence in the virtual scenario. Elevated stress levels also in the control condition may have masked potential audio effects, implicating the need for investigating binaural auralizations in less stress-related social contexts. date_type: published date_online: 2026-03-23 date: 2026-03-23 publication: PLOS One volume: 21 number: 3 publisher: Plos pagerange: e0345565 id_number_name: 10.1371/journal.pone.0345565 id_number_type: doi refereed: yes created_here: yes issn: 1932-6203 official_url: http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0345565 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0345565 funders_name: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) funders_id: 1 all_funder_names: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) all_funder_names: DFG all_funder_names: German Research Foundation projects_title: SPP 2236: Auditive Kognition in interaktiven virtuellen Umgebungen – AUDICTIVE projects_title: Einfluss des Audio-Renderings in virtuellen Umgebungen auf Realismus, Präsenz und sozio-kognitive Verarbeitung (SPP 2236) projects_grant: 422686707 projects_grant: 444832396 projects_int_project_code: ARRAY(0x55ee452afde0) projects_int_project_code: ARRAY(0x55ee41eccdd0) projects_id: 458 projects_id: 141 project_contributor_names: Andreas Mühlberger acknowledged_funders: yes invoice_nr: #PAB410740 oa_notes: Euro Kosten geschätzt! oa_type: gold_paid oa_paid_date: 2026 oa_charge: 2065 oa_total_cost: 2457.35 covered_by_lib_costs: 2000 oa_apc_budget: uni costs_paid_value: 2065 costs_paid_value: 392.35 costs_paid_type: gold_apc costs_paid_type: vat date_submitted: 2025-08-29 date_accepted: 2026-03-08 oa_funder_ack: Yes oa_research_materials_ack: Yes oa_orig_currency_value: 2382 oa_orig_currency_type: USD tb: 71 apc_workflow_stage: finished dfg_compliant: yes fp7_project: no fp7_type: info:eu-repo/semantics/article citation: Mesz, Bruno Alejandro, Roßkopf, Sarah, Mühlberger, Andreas , Stärz, Felix, Blau, Matthias, van de Par, Steven und Kroczek, Leon O. H. (2026) Aurally impressed, yet not more stressed: On the relationship between audiovisual realism, social anxiety, and presence in a virtual social stress scenario. PLOS One 21 (3), e0345565. document_url: https://epub.uni-regensburg.de/79369/1/journal.pone.0345565.pdf document_url: https://epub.uni-regensburg.de/79369/2/Rosskopf%2C%20PAB410740.pdf