Taxonomy and definition of audio augmented reality (AAR): A grounded theory study

AR applications have mostly considered visual augmentations while excluding other modalities. Recent developments in audio augmented reality (AAR) applications have been based on the definitions of visual AR or mixed reality (MR), and thus, AAR technology development has lacked systematic efforts. We investigated the concept of augmented reality through audio to provide a systematic understanding and generate a taxonomy and a definition for AAR. A conference workshop (N = 28), focus groups (N = 18), and expert interviews (N = 6) generated qualitative data regarding the concept of AAR. Grounded Theory (GT) was used to analyze the data and produce a new taxonomy and a definition. The AAR taxonomy consists of three categories – Environment Connected, Goal Directed, and Context Adapted, with three subcategories respectively. The need for a separate taxonomy for AAR is highlighted to aid in the development of AAR applications in a systematic manner. The taxonomy is expected to be used as a heuristic tool that can guide developers to build AAR applications and can be used in evaluating user experience with AAR applications.