Assessment of Varied User Representations and XR Environments in Consumer-Grade XR Telemeetings

Abstract

Audiovisual telemeetings realized through the use of extended reality (XR) can provide remote users with an enhanced sense of immersion and presence, offering more natural and dynamic interaction techniques than conventional videoconferencing tools. However, the majority of existing solutions are inaccessible to the average consumer. Using a portable and affordable hardware setup and a state-of-the-art software solution (Holonet), we conducted a study (N=38) focused on investigating user preferences regarding user representation (avatar or video cutout) in the context of virtual (VR) and augmented (AR) reality. With results indicating that participants preferred avatars over video representation, and VR over AR, this paper highlights the importance of considering user preferences when choosing user representations and XR environments for XR telemeetings. Furthermore, we discuss user preferences for video representations without a visible head-mounted display (HMD), in anticipation of further advancements in HMD-removal software.