This work-in-progress paper presents findings from a pilot study (N = 30), conducted as part of the Horizon Europe AMPLIFY project, investigating physiological responses to music. Participants listened to two counterbalanced musical excerpts while heart rate, electrodermal activity (EDA) and skin temperature were recorded via EmotiBit™ wearable sensors. Of 489 statistically significant individual deviations from baseline (Bonferroni-corrected Mann-Whitney U), 33 were shared across multiple participants. To check whether these occurred at the same instant, temporal analysis of the shared deviations identified 82 different episodes in which multiple participants deviated simultaneously. Comparing audio features during these episodes to the remainder of each musical excerpt yielded 27 Bonferroni-significant associations (Cohen's d up to 1.62). Broadband EDA and skin conductance response frequency emerged as the most responsive physiological measures, showing strong correlations with spectral brightness and timbral features of the musical passages.

This paper investigates immersive Extended Reality (XR) broadcasting as a means of enhancing audience experience within production-realistic workflows. An XR broadcast system was iteratively refined through broadcaster-in-the-loop evaluations to improve usability and production stability. A controlled audience study then compared an immersive XR broadcast with a conventional 2D Twitch stream presenting identical content. Participants in the XR condition viewed the broadcast using head-mounted displays within a shared virtual studio, while participants in the 2D condition viewed the stream on desktop displays while physically co-located in the same classroom environment, providing a strong baseline that preserved interpersonal awareness.