Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a wind farm on individuals by means of an audio-visual methodology that tried to simulate biologically plausible individual–environment interactions. To disentangle the effects of auditory and visual components on cognitive performances and subjective evaluations, unimodal (Audio or Video) and bimodal (Audio + Video) approaches were compared. Participants were assigned to three experimental conditions that reproduced a wind farm by means of an immersive virtual reality system: bimodal condition, reproducing scenarios with both acoustic and visual stimuli; unimodal visual condition, with only visual stimuli; unimodal auditory condition, with only auditory stimuli. While immersed in the virtual scenarios, participants performed tasks assessing verbal fluency, short-term verbal memory, backward counting, and distance estimations (egocentric: how far is the turbine from you?; allocentric: how far is the turbine from the target?). Afterwards, participants reported their degree of visual and noise annoyance. The results revealed that the presence of a visual scenario as compared to the only availability of auditory stimuli may exert a negative effect on resource-demanding cognitive tasks but a positive effect on perceived noise annoyance. This supports the idea that humans perceive the environment holistically and that auditory and visual features are processed in close interaction.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barsalou LW (2008) Grounded cognition. Ann Rev Psychol 59:617–645
Blauert J, Jekosch U (1997) Sound-quality evaluation –a multi-layered problem. Acta acust united acust 83:747–753
Bruno N, Pavani F, Zampini M (2010) La percezione multisensoriale. Il Mulino, Bologna
Daum SO, Hecht H (2009) Distance estimation in vista space. Atten Percept Psychophys 71(5):1127–1137
Gallese V (2005) Embodied simulation: from neurons to phenomenal experience. Phenomenol Cogn Sci 4:23–48
Iachini T, Ruotolo F, Ruggiero G (2009) The effects of familiarity and gender on spatial representation. J Environ Psychol 29(2):227–234
Iachini T, Maffei L, Ruotolo F, Senese VP, Ruggiero G, Masullo M, Alekseeva N (2012) Multisensory assessment of acoustic comfort aboard metros: a virtual reality study. Appl Cognitive Psych. doi:10.1002/acp.2856
Jallouli J, Moreau G (2009) Virtual reality as a landscape decision-making tool: the wind turbines’ case. IJDST 16(2):73–88
Persson Waye K, Öhström E (2002) Psycho-acoustic characters of relevance for annoyance of wind turbine noise. J Sound Vib 250(1):65–73
Pheasant RJ, Fisher MN, Watts GR, Whitaker DJ, Horoshenkov KV (2010) The importance of auditory-visual interaction in the construction of ‘tranquil space’. J Environ Psychol 30:501–509
Ruggiero G, Sergi I, Iachini T (2008) Gender differences in remembering and inferring spatial distances. Memory 16(8):821–835
Senese VP, Ruotolo F, Ruggiero G, Iachini T (2012) The Italian version of the Weinstein noise sensitivity scale: measurement invariance across age, gender, and context. Eur J Psychol Assess 28(2):118–124
Viollon S, Lavandier C, Drake C (2002) Influence of visual setting on sound ratings in an urban environment. Appl Acoust 63:493–511
Watkins S, Shams L, Josephs O, Rees G (2007) Activity in human V1 follows multisensory perception. Neuroimage 37:572–578
Conflict of interest
This supplement was not sponsored by outside commercial interests. It was funded entirely by ECONA, Via dei Marsi, 78, 00185 Roma, Italy.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ruotolo, F., Senese, V.P., Ruggiero, G. et al. Individual reactions to a multisensory immersive virtual environment: the impact of a wind farm on individuals. Cogn Process 13 (Suppl 1), 319–323 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-012-0492-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-012-0492-6