DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12688234
title: Impact of Realistic Noise Scenarios on Auditory Selective Attention Switch in a Virtual Classroom Environment
title: Addendum to V1: Listening Effort Questionnaire Reliability Analysis and ANOVA

description: General

The audio-visual Auditory Selective Attention VR - Noise (avASANoise) project serves to investigate the impact of realistic noise on auditory selective attention switch in a close-to-real-life classroom setting. This dataset consists of a Unity project and Matlab code used to collect data on the voluntary switching of auditory selective attention in a virtual reality classroom scenario.

Detailed information on the experiment and data evaluation is given in the journal article "The influence of complex classroom noise on auditory selective attention" by Breuer et al. 2025 available under https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-18232-2 

The dataset contains:

    Unity project for audiovisual display and the experiment structure    Matlab code for experiment preparation and HpFT measurement    Data collected in the experiment (experiment performance, head tracking, questionnaires)

Experiment preparation using Matlab

The code and software used to prepare the experiment is provided in the folder "matlab_avASANoise".

The Matlab code used to prepare the trials for each participant as well as to measure the HpTFs. For the HpTF measurements, the  ITA Toolbox for Matlab was used and is provided (https://git.rwth-aachen.de/ita/toolbox). A developmental version of Virtual acoustics (VA) 2021a (https://www.virtualacoustics.org/VA/overview/) is provided.

Software requirements:

    Matlab 2020a or higher    ITA Toolbox for Matlab installed

Experiment conduction in Unity

The Unity project is provided in the folder "unity_avASANoise".

Therefore, a virtual classroom with some basic furniture is provided. The used models, prefabs and plugins can be found in the Assets folder.

The acoustic stimuli for the task are taken from Loh and Fels 2023 "ChildASA dataset: Speech and Noise Material fpr Child-appropriate Paradigms on Auditory Selective Attention" https://doi.org/10.18154/RWTH-2023-00740. Noise stimuli are provided within the Unity Assets folder.

This Unity project was intended for the use in virtual reality using an HMD and respective controllers for input. However, it can also be used on a desktop pc. The mode can be changed using the "VRMode" toggle as described below.The audio reproduction is realized using the Unity plugin for Virtual Acoustics (VA, http://www.virtualacoustics.org/ and https://git.rwth-aachen.de/ita/vaunity_package).

Software requirements:

    Unity 2019.4.21.f1.    SteamVR 1.19.7    Virtual Acoustics v2021a, VAUnity: https://git.rwth-aachen.de/ita/VAUnity

Data evaluation

The collected data is provided in the folder "dataEvaluation_avASANoise". This folder contains three types of data: the raw data collected in the experiment (reaction times and error rates), the head tracking data and responses from the simulator sickness questionnaire (before and after the experiment) and the igroup presence questionnaire (after the experiment). Matlab code for the evaluation of the head tracking data and the questionnaires is provided.