LISTEN: a user-adaptive audio-augmented museum guide

Modern personalized information systems have been proven to support the user with information at the appropriate level and in the appropriate form. In specific environments like museums and exhibitions, focusing on the control of such a system is contradictory to establishing a relationship with the artifacts and exhibits. Preferably, the technology becomes invisible to the user and the physical reality becomes the interface to an additional virtual layer: by naturally moving in the space and/or manipulating physical objects in our surroundings the user will access information and operate the virtual layer. The LISTEN project is an attempt to make use of the inherent “everyday” integration of aural and visual perception, developing a tailored, immersive audio-augmented environment for the visitors of art exhibitions. The challenge of the LISTEN project is to provide a personalized immersive augmented environment, an aim which goes beyond the guiding purpose. The visitors of the museum implicitly interact with the system because the audio presentation is adapted to the users’ contexts (e.g. interests, preferences, motion, etc.), providing an intelligent audio-based environment. This article describes the realization and user evaluation of the LISTEN system focusing on the personalization component. As this system has been installed at the Kunstmuseum Bonn in the context of an exhibition comprising artworks of the painter August Macke, a detailed evaluation could be conducted.