Audiovisual listening experiments are crucial for understanding acoustical noise and human sound perception. However, traditional VR setups are limited by the need for expensive equipment and time-consuming laboratory sessions. As a result, interest in online experiments has been growing, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, these experiments have been restricted to basic setups lacking interactivity. This study presents a novel approach where experiments are simulated on a server and streamed in real time. The approach is validated by conducting a within-subject study comparing VR and streaming methods. For this purpose, four noise conditions have been built based on a virtual urban scene in Unreal Engine, and a real-time auralization pipeline was constructed. Within this scope, custom virtual sound sources for the Unreal Engine were created and support for sound source directivities added to the auralization chain built around Virtual Acoustics (VA). Results show minimal differences in annoyance and soundscape ratings between the two methods. Feeling of presence suffered during streaming, yet the subjects’ attention was not significantly impacted. Accessibility and quality ratings also produced promising results. Visual quality ratings suffered mildly from the switch to Streaming, but auralization quality was rated equally positive in both cases. Overall audiovisual quality ratings for the Streaming case were very promising. This validates the potential of online streaming for such multisensory experiments.

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