Immersive virtual reality in community planning: Acoustic and visual congruence of simulated vs real world

The aim of the present study was to understand if acoustic and visual stimuli of an simulated environment in immersive virtual reality (IVR) were sufficiently congruent with their correspondent elements in the real context. After experiencing in real and laboratory settings, two independent groups of participants were, respectively, invited to fill out questionnaires concerning: global qualitative evaluations, coherence and familiarity for acoustic and visual stimuli. Our findings showed that modern multisensory IVR technologies can successfully represent a smart and innovative tool for enhancing the participatory planning, predicting the impact on community and their complex environment.