When you visit a museum, you’re not only surrounded by visual displays, but by sound as well. The shuffling of feet, people talking, a guide explaining something. It’s never entirely quiet. But in virtual exhibits, where museum objects are displayed on screen, it’s often eerily quiet. Recently, researchers from the University of Essex in the UK decided to find out if there could be a better way to design virtual exhibits by adding sounds.
Listening to background sounds or music could make people more engaged with virtual museum exhibits
In a new study published in PLOS One, the researchers describe how they asked volunteers to look at a series of artifacts on screen. These were based on objects in the collections of the British Museum, and in the virtual demonstration the objects could be rotated and zoomed so that participants could see it in as much detail as they wanted.
To test whether sounds changed the experience people were having while looking at these virtual museum objects, the presentations were accompanied by different types of sound. Some people got a quiet version with no sound, as a control. One group heard typical museum background noises. Another experienced the virtual objects with a range of custom sound effects somewhat related to the object. Two groups heard music – one group heard a synthetic soundscape and the other heard sounds from the International Affective Database of Sounds (IADS) which are linked to specific emotions.
After the mini tour of virtual objects, each participant filled in a questionnaire that assessed which emotions they felt and the level of engagement they had with the exhibit.
When it came to the emotions people reported, there wasn’t much of a difference between the sounds played during the virtual exhibit. But there were some noticeable differences in engagement: The custom sounds inspired by the objects, IADS sounds and the synthesized soundscape all led to more engagement compared to silence or the museum background sounds.
This could be useful for museums that are developing virtual exhibits. Just adding some background sounds could instantly increase engagement with the objects. The researchers do caution that it’s best to leave the background sound as an optional setting, because their volunteer responses suggested that some people got annoyed with the sounds.
But the right sounds could make people more interested in virtual exhibits, which could help museums to reach new audiences.
