Effect of Acoustic Congruency in Binaural Audio on the Film-Viewing Experience

Binaural audio rendering has become a common means of delivering spatial audio to end users, providing an accessible alternative to multi-loudspeaker systems. However, binaural reproduction often involves a mismatch between the acoustics of the simulated virtual room and the listener’s physical environment, which can compromise auditory distance perception and plausibility, a phenomenon known as the room divergence effect. However, its implications for immersive experience in film viewing remain unclear. This study examines whether acoustic incongruence between virtual and physical listening environments affects immersive experience during film viewing, and whether specific auditory perceptual factors are associated with immersion. A subjective experiment was conducted in which 68 participants watched an excerpt from Dune: Part One (2021) using binaural rendering of multichannel audio, under convergent and divergent conditions across two acoustically distinct rooms: an acoustically treated critical listening room and an untreated domestic living room. Immersive experience was assessed using the Film Immersive Experience Questionnaire, alongside an exploratory Binaural Audio Experience Questionnaire. Results indicate that, although room divergence produced perceptually salient differences, it did not result in significant changes in overall immersive experience. Nevertheless, analyses showed that certain immersive experience dimensions, particularly Transportation, were more closely associated with localisation and listener envelopment attributes than with auditory distance and externalisation.