A detailed inquiry of the differences between headphones and loudspeakers influences on dynamic postural task performance

We examined the impact of auditory stimuli and their methods on a dynamic balance task performance. Twenty-four young adults wore an HTC Vive headset and dodged a virtual ball to the right or left based on its color (blue to the left, red to the right, and vice versa). We manipulated the environment by introducing congruent (auditory stimuli from the correct direction) or incongruent (auditory stimuli played randomly from either side) and comparing a multimodal (visual and congruent auditory stimuli) to unimodal (visual or auditory stimuli) presentation. We tested four apparatuses: loudspeakers, headphones, passthrough, (wearing headphones while auditory stimuli come from loudspeakers) and room simulation (externalization via headphones). We quantified reaction time (RT) and accuracy (choosing the correct direction to dodge) from the head movement. We hypothesized that the weight of the headset will slow RT, and that externalization of the auditory stimuli will make it more usable when no visual cues are provided. Interestingly, both hypotheses were refuted. In silent conditions, RT was faster with headphones compared to loudspeakers, but this difference disappeared when auditory stimuli were introduced. Participants used congruent auditory stimuli to improve accuracy but disregarded incongruent auditory stimuli across all apparatuses except for room simulation. In conclusion, this study confirmed that healthy young adults can use congruent auditory stimuli to enhance accuracy and disregard incongruent auditory stimuli such that accuracy is not harmed. RT was either faster or the same with headphones compared to loudspeakers. Notably, this specific room simulation did not enhance performance.