Alternative Audio Solution to Enhance Immersion in Deployable Synthetic Environments

This is a NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA report procured by the Pentagon and made available for public release. It has been reproduced in the best form available to the Pentagon. It is not spiral-bound, but rather assembled with Velobinding in a soft, white linen cover. The Storming Media report number is A432814. The abstract provided by the Pentagon follows: The purpose behind this thesis was to examine the effect of vibro- tactile feedback on a user 5 degree of immersion in a synthetic environment. Sub-woofers usually provide the vibro-tactile feedback in surround sound systems. The alternate method explored in this thesis utilized a "seat shaker" to generate the appropriate tactile feedback in the environment. The solution theoretically enables the user to receive a compelling, multi-modal presentation of the environment with deployable (small footprint), unobtrusive equipment. Physiological responses (electrodermal activity, heart rate, and temperature) were measured in an attempt to determine if there was a statistically significant difference between a user 5 degree of immersion and emotional response in a 5.2 surround sound environment versus one with stereo headphones and a seat shaker.