Immersive Group Telepresence and the Perception of Eye Contact

Parameters of an immersive telepresence audio/visual system was first defined by a review of the literature and also a preliminary qualitative analysis with live subjects. The definition that emerged was drawn upon as criteria for the audio/visual design and equipment installation used for the present experiment. The definition is simulating a conferencing image of a person sitting on the other side of the meeting table in the conversational space around the table, and also includes a life-size image and eye contact. Specifically, eye contact and the resulting parallax angle of the life-size image placed in the conversational space as if around a meeting table was the subject of the experiment. Two images of live interactive conferencing video streams were sent to participant subjects. Image signal “A” was a true eye contact image and image signal “B” was a parallax camera angle with a camera mounted at bezel height on a 50” plasma. The subjects were asked to identify the difference in the images and were asked which they would prefer to conference with. Ninety-three percent (93%) of the subjects correctly identified the true eye contact image. Ninety-three percent (93%) of the subjects stated that they would prefer to communicate with the real eye contact image. The study confirms the necessity for an eye contact solution in an immersive telepresence experience. The study confirms the difficulty of traditional and common audio/visual equipment to provide an immersive videoconferencing experience with eye contact. Equipment suggestions are made to overcome this eye gaze problem for immersive telepresence conferencing.