Exploring students’ environmental preferences in classrooms : a VR-based discrete choice experiment on lighting and acoustic conditions

Abstract

Grounded in environmental preference theory, this study investigates how university students perceive and evaluate audio-visual conditions in classroom environments, focusing specifically on lighting and acoustics. A virtual reality (VR) platform was developed to simulate classrooms with varied lighting and acoustic settings, integrated within a discrete choice experiment (DCE) framework. The study was conducted in two stages: a focus group discussion followed by a VR-based DCE. The focus group identified four key environmental attributes — lighting intensity, lighting colour temperature, background noise, and intrusive noise — which were then used in the DCE design. 54 students participated in the experiment, each completing 15 paired-choice tasks in immersive VR scenarios. Results showed that background noise and lighting intensity were the most influential factors shaping preferences. Participants generally favored moderate background noise and high lighting levels for enhanced comfort and cognitive engagement. Significant interaction effects between lighting and noise conditions were also found, suggesting that well-coordinated sensory environments can enhance user perception. Additionally, individual differences, such as age, gender, and environmental attitudes, significantly influenced how students experienced classroom conditions. This study contributes a novel VR-based DCE methodology for evaluating complex indoor environments and offers actionable insights for designing more adaptive, user-centered learning spaces based on empirical user preferences.