Evaluating the impact of display medium (Virtual Reality Head Mounted Display vs. Screen Display) on perceived user experience and aesthetic value within virtual hotel environments.

This study aims to understand the impact of display medium on affective and cognitive perceptions within virtual environments. Virtual reality (VR) has become a popular design visualization tool, and head-mounted displays (HMDs) offer a potentially distinctive way of displaying VR environments. As HMDs become increasingly accessible, industry leaders are beginning to explore their use as a design prototyping, visualization, and communication tool. Before HMDs become a new medium for visualization, it is imperative to understand the perceptual and user experience (UX) differences between HMDs and screen displays. In the present study, participant’s rate perceived aesthetic value, spatial presence, and affective reactions (i.e. emotions) after touring two virtual hotel environments, one on a stereoscopic HMD, and one the second on a 65” 4K Ultra HD (UHD) screen display. Using a 2 (display medium types) X 2 (displayed environments) within subject’s design, this study was conducted in a lab experiment with 80 participants, split between design and non-design backgrounds. Randomization of both the hotel environment and display medium reduced any potential carryover effects between environments and displays. Within each hotel environment, participants toured a series of three interior perspectives. After exiting each hotel, participants completed a questionnaire measuring UX and perception variables. UX, i.e. process, variables (spatial presence and affective reactions) were measured through the MEC-Spatial Presence Questionnaire, self-assessment manikin (SAM), and semantic differential. An expanded version of the visual properties questionnaire measured aesthetic value. The effect of display medium across all variables, environments, and disciplines are explored and recommendations for future HMD specific applications are suggested