Listen! Audible Landmarks for Exploratory Information Retrieval in Virtual Reality: Poster Track

Supporting a user in exploring large information spaces, like collections of media objects, in order to support searching or learning about the content of a collection, is still a challenging issue. In this work, we present an exploratory information retrieval system that integrates dynamic auditory landmarks to enhance spatial orientation and thus making exploration more efficient. The system transforms a two-dimensional (2D) search map into an immersive three-dimensional (3D) environment with adaptive spatial audio cues influenced by user behavior. A preliminary user study suggests that auditory landmarks improve orientation and search efficiency, although the results are limited by the number of participants(ten). An analysis of tracked behavior has shown promising results regarding the ability of auditory landmarks to guide the user.