Do video clips add more value than audio clips? Presenting industrial research and development results using multimedia

Abstract

It was hypothesised that in multimedia information applications a visual component can add value to otherwise audio-only clips. Subjects rated clips used in published CD-ROMs and how much they remembered was also tested. In one set of clips, the visual component was removed, in a second the audio was removed and a third set was unedited. The experiment was run three times, on different groups, to check replicability. For all groups, clips with a visual component as well as audio were judged to contain more information and to be more interesting than audio-only clips. There was also some evidence that the visual component can increase subjects' confidence in what they can remember. Other expected effects were not observed in every group in which they were tested. It is speculated that training in media literacy may help developers to use the visual component more effectively.

Keywords:

• audio
• video
• multimedia
• presentations