Effects of noise presence and noise position on interpersonal distance in a triadic conversation

People usually move in different ways during conversations but little is known whether movement behavior reflects difficulties that some people experience in communication in terms of listening and speaking. Here, we investigate movement behavior of standing participants in triadic conversations in noise with different spatial properties. In the initial analysis, we test how presence and position of noise affects interpersonal distance. The task of the interlocutors was to hold a free conversation in controlled acoustic conditions with realistic reverberation and visual scene of an underground station that was rendered in real-time in the Simulated Open Field Environment while the participants were monitored with motion tracking equipment and their voices were recorded. Two groups of people took part in the study. Different noise conditions involved presence of stationary speech-shaped noise at 70 dB SPL presented from one of four possible directions (Front, Right, Rear, Left), or from all directions simultaneously (F+R+R+L), or there was no noise (Quiet). The results show that interpersonal distance decreased when the noise was present, which confirmed previous results. Further, the preliminary analysis shows a relatively small effect of noise position on the interpersonal distance.