Evaluating user experience in cultural heritage through virtual reality simulations

Highlights: • The proposed analysis develops a virtual reality (VR)simulator for the Museum of India to enhance heritage preservation efforts. • The Emotion questionnaire validates the impact of virtual museum tours on emotional states, including positive, negative, and boredom, compared to tradi...

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Main Authors: Shinnu Jangra, Gurjinder Singh, Archana Mantri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universitat Politècnica de València 2025-01-01
Series:Virtual Archaeology Review
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Online Access:https://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/var/article/view/22556
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author Shinnu Jangra
Gurjinder Singh
Archana Mantri
author_facet Shinnu Jangra
Gurjinder Singh
Archana Mantri
author_sort Shinnu Jangra
collection DOAJ
description Highlights: • The proposed analysis develops a virtual reality (VR)simulator for the Museum of India to enhance heritage preservation efforts. • The Emotion questionnaire validates the impact of virtual museum tours on emotional states, including positive, negative, and boredom, compared to traditional methods. • Immersive VR significantly enhanced user experience, and the VR-simulator system showed a more effective positive impact and reduced adverse effects compared to the non-VR group. Abstract: Cultural heritage currently has a significant social and economic impact on a global scale. This study evaluates user experience in cultural heritage through virtual reality (VR). While previous research has explored the use of digital technologies in museums, there needs to be a greater understanding of VR's effects on user engagement, emotional connection, and knowledge retention within heritage contexts. This study developed a VR-Simulator for the Le-Corbusier Museum, Chandigarh, India, also called VRSLM, and accessed the impact and emotions of participants using the Achievement Emotion Questionnaire (AEQ). VR-Simulator provides participants with an immersive and interactive museum experience using a Mobile-VR headset. The study includes historical analysis, 3D visualization creation, multimedia integration, Unity, VR environment development, and deployment as an IRUSU Play VR app. VRSLM framework was evaluated with 40 participants, divided into two equal groups: VR-Simulator and Non-VR. They were asked to visit the museum using VR and traditional methods. The impact of the VRSLM system was measured by applying a statistical test and comparing it with the non-VR group. The results indicated that the VR-Simulator group had more positive emotions than the non-VR group. The overall mean score of the positive emotion factors was (M=4.2 vs. M=2.6), the negative score was (M=2.0 vs. M=2.5), and the boredom emotion factor scored (M=3.1 vs. M= 2.6), of VR-simulator and non-VR-group-respectively. T-tests and factor analyses were also applied to find out the impact of VR, indicating a significant difference between the groups regarding users' emotions and engagement effects on the participants. The findings suggest that VR simulations significantly improve user engagement and create a more positive impact in immersive environment than traditional methods. These results offer valuable insights for museums, curators, and heritage sites, suggesting that VR can revolutionize heritage experiences by deepening visitor understanding. VRSLM framework was evaluated with 40 participants, divided into two equal groups: VR-Simulator and Non-VR. They were asked to visit the museum using VR and traditional methods. The impact of the VRSLM system was measured by applying a statistical test and comparing it with the non-VR group. The results indicated that the VR-Simulator group had more positive emotions than the non-VR group. The overall mean score of the positive emotion factors was (M=4.25 vs. M=2.60), the negative score was (M=2.02 vs. M=2.57), and the boredom emotion factor scored (M=3.12 vs. M= 2.68), of VR-Simulator and non-VR-group-respectively. T-tests and factor analyses were also applied to find out the impact of VR, indicating a significant difference between the groups regarding users' emotions and engagement effects on the participants. The findings suggest that VR-Simulator significantly improve user engagement and create a more immersive learning environment than traditional methods. These results offer valuable insights for museums, curators, and heritage sites, suggesting that VR can revolutionize heritage experiences by deepening visitor understanding.
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spelling doaj-art-64900116ffe4431692aeefe91c7e17192025-01-31T12:30:34ZengUniversitat Politècnica de ValènciaVirtual Archaeology Review1989-99472025-01-011632173110.4995/var.2024.2255621746Evaluating user experience in cultural heritage through virtual reality simulationsShinnu Jangra0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6636-4291Gurjinder Singh1Archana Mantri2Chitkara University Chitkara UniversityAnurag UniversityHighlights: • The proposed analysis develops a virtual reality (VR)simulator for the Museum of India to enhance heritage preservation efforts. • The Emotion questionnaire validates the impact of virtual museum tours on emotional states, including positive, negative, and boredom, compared to traditional methods. • Immersive VR significantly enhanced user experience, and the VR-simulator system showed a more effective positive impact and reduced adverse effects compared to the non-VR group. Abstract: Cultural heritage currently has a significant social and economic impact on a global scale. This study evaluates user experience in cultural heritage through virtual reality (VR). While previous research has explored the use of digital technologies in museums, there needs to be a greater understanding of VR's effects on user engagement, emotional connection, and knowledge retention within heritage contexts. This study developed a VR-Simulator for the Le-Corbusier Museum, Chandigarh, India, also called VRSLM, and accessed the impact and emotions of participants using the Achievement Emotion Questionnaire (AEQ). VR-Simulator provides participants with an immersive and interactive museum experience using a Mobile-VR headset. The study includes historical analysis, 3D visualization creation, multimedia integration, Unity, VR environment development, and deployment as an IRUSU Play VR app. VRSLM framework was evaluated with 40 participants, divided into two equal groups: VR-Simulator and Non-VR. They were asked to visit the museum using VR and traditional methods. The impact of the VRSLM system was measured by applying a statistical test and comparing it with the non-VR group. The results indicated that the VR-Simulator group had more positive emotions than the non-VR group. The overall mean score of the positive emotion factors was (M=4.2 vs. M=2.6), the negative score was (M=2.0 vs. M=2.5), and the boredom emotion factor scored (M=3.1 vs. M= 2.6), of VR-simulator and non-VR-group-respectively. T-tests and factor analyses were also applied to find out the impact of VR, indicating a significant difference between the groups regarding users' emotions and engagement effects on the participants. The findings suggest that VR simulations significantly improve user engagement and create a more positive impact in immersive environment than traditional methods. These results offer valuable insights for museums, curators, and heritage sites, suggesting that VR can revolutionize heritage experiences by deepening visitor understanding. VRSLM framework was evaluated with 40 participants, divided into two equal groups: VR-Simulator and Non-VR. They were asked to visit the museum using VR and traditional methods. The impact of the VRSLM system was measured by applying a statistical test and comparing it with the non-VR group. The results indicated that the VR-Simulator group had more positive emotions than the non-VR group. The overall mean score of the positive emotion factors was (M=4.25 vs. M=2.60), the negative score was (M=2.02 vs. M=2.57), and the boredom emotion factor scored (M=3.12 vs. M= 2.68), of VR-Simulator and non-VR-group-respectively. T-tests and factor analyses were also applied to find out the impact of VR, indicating a significant difference between the groups regarding users' emotions and engagement effects on the participants. The findings suggest that VR-Simulator significantly improve user engagement and create a more immersive learning environment than traditional methods. These results offer valuable insights for museums, curators, and heritage sites, suggesting that VR can revolutionize heritage experiences by deepening visitor understanding.https://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/var/article/view/22556virtual archaeologyvirtual realityvirtual museumemotion evaluationvirtual simulatorimmersion
spellingShingle Shinnu Jangra
Gurjinder Singh
Archana Mantri
Evaluating user experience in cultural heritage through virtual reality simulations
Virtual Archaeology Review
virtual archaeology
virtual reality
virtual museum
emotion evaluation
virtual simulator
immersion
title Evaluating user experience in cultural heritage through virtual reality simulations
title_full Evaluating user experience in cultural heritage through virtual reality simulations
title_fullStr Evaluating user experience in cultural heritage through virtual reality simulations
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating user experience in cultural heritage through virtual reality simulations
title_short Evaluating user experience in cultural heritage through virtual reality simulations
title_sort evaluating user experience in cultural heritage through virtual reality simulations
topic virtual archaeology
virtual reality
virtual museum
emotion evaluation
virtual simulator
immersion
url https://polipapers.upv.es/index.php/var/article/view/22556
work_keys_str_mv AT shinnujangra evaluatinguserexperienceinculturalheritagethroughvirtualrealitysimulations
AT gurjindersingh evaluatinguserexperienceinculturalheritagethroughvirtualrealitysimulations
AT archanamantri evaluatinguserexperienceinculturalheritagethroughvirtualrealitysimulations