Effects of Limited Field of View on Musical Collaboration Experience with Avatars in Extended Reality

2025-10-29

2025 IEEE 6th International Symposium on the Internet of Sounds (IS2)

AI Summary

This study addresses how limited field of view (FOV) in extended reality (XR) constrains co-presence, gesture recognition efficiency, user enjoyment, and response latency during musical collaboration. Through a within-subjects experiment, the authors compare an unrestricted-FOV holographic system (HoloJam) with a 52° FOV AR headset (Nreal Light) and introduce Mini Musicians—a novel notification mechanism designed to mitigate interaction challenges imposed by FOV constraints. Results demonstrate that HoloJam significantly enhances perceived co-presence, gesture recognition speed, and overall user experience. Meanwhile, Mini Musicians effectively reduces response time under limited FOV while preserving high levels of user enjoyment, offering a new design paradigm for XR-based musical collaboration that balances performance and experiential quality.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Interaction Techniques and Devices
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction
• Intelligent Robots: Human-Robot Interaction

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Federated recommendation systems and personalization
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Web applications in cross-disciplinary domains and verticals such as mixed reality, smart cities, and digital health

Abstract

During musical collaboration, visual cues are essential for communication between musicians. Extended Reality (XR) applications, often used with head-mounted displays like Augmented Reality (AR) glasses, can limit the field of view (FOV) of players. We conducted a study to investigate the effects of limited FOV on co-presence, gesture recognition, overall enjoyment, and reaction time.Initially, we observed experienced musicians collaborating informally with and without visual occlusion, noting that collaboration suffered with limited FOV. We then conducted a within-subjects study with 19 participants, comparing an unrestricted FOV holographic setup called HoloJam to Nreal AR glasses with a 52° limited FOV. In the AR setup, we tested two conditions: standard AR with a 52° FOV and a modified AR notification system called Mini Musicians.Results showed that HoloJam provided higher co-presence, quicker gesture recognition, and greater enjoyment. The Mini Musicians application reduced reaction time and maintained enjoyment compared to the standard AR setup. We conclude that limited FOV impacts musical collaboration, but notifications can improve reaction time and should be considered in future XR music collaborations.

Problem

• Field of View
• Musical Collaboration
• Extended Reality
• Co-presence
• Gesture Recognition

Innovation

• Field of View (FOV)
• Extended Reality (XR)
• Musical Collaboration
• Notification System
• Co-presence