AES Europe 2026

Sound plays a critical role in virtual reality (VR),
shaping attention, narrative comprehension, emotional
engagement,; experiential plausibility under conditions
of embodiment; user agency. Although a growing body of
research addresses VR audio techniques, perceptual effects,
; sound taxonomies, existing approaches remain fragmented
; largely descriptive. In particular, they do not provide
a unifying, VR-specific account of how sound meaning;
emotional intent are operationally linked to user agency
; non-linear narrative progression. This paper presents a
narrative review of selected literature spanning game audio
frameworks, immersive sound design, narrative theory,;
plausibility-related research in games; VR. Through
synthesis of these perspectives, the review identifies a
conceptual gap in current research, namely the absence of a
VR-specific, agency-coupled sound design framework for
structuring sound meaning; emotional intent in support
of experiential plausibility as users actively shape events
in interactive VR environments.