Using Eye Tracking to Investigate the Audio-Visual Effect of Landscape Perception: A Research Review

Landscape perception is complex and synthetical due to the various settings of real physical environment and the complicated mechanism of human brain processing. This paper reviews the studies have done in the applied perception field using eye tracking technology and summarizes knowledge and methods that can advance to landscape perception research from the multisensory perspective. The first part is the major researches of landscape perception and the difficulties of the conventional assessments based on verbal reports. The main content is the role of eye tracking in studying the audio-visual effects of multisensory environment both in labs and real-fields. The third is the latest theories about attention and cognitive resources under the gaze patterns while people are experiencing natural and urban landscapes. Finally, the article discusses further applications and technical limits of eye tracking in this applied field for noise control and vision enhancement referring to landscape design. Eye-gaze data can provide a global view of the perceived contents and the mental processes about the multisensory and interactive environments, varying differently spatial and temporal scales. This is helpful for the researchers to understand the mechanism of human perception in complex contexts and the designers to manage landscape and soundscape settings for human wellbeing.