This study investigates how perceived auditory distance in Virtual Reality (VR) influences social perception, specifically personality attribution. Building on research linking social and physical distance, the work explores whether speakers who sound closer or farther away are judged differently in terms of personality traits. Using the SONICOM 3D Speaker Personality Corpus, the study analysed 360 spatialised speech samples from 120 speakers. Each sample was evaluated by 10 listeners, who rated both perceived auditory distance and five personality traits (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism). Ratings were averaged to obtain a single score per recording. The analysis proceeded in two stages. First, correlations between perceived distance and personality traits were examined. Results showed significant relationships for two traits: Extraversion and Agreeableness. Specifically, speakers perceived as closer were judged as less extraverted but more agreeable, while more distant speakers were perceived as more extraverted and less agreeable. Second, machine learning models were developed to predict personality trait scores from the speech data. A feedforward neural network achieved above-chance classification performance across all traits. When the model was extended to jointly predict both personality traits and perceived distance, performance improved significantly for all traits. This suggests that perceived distance and personality attribution are linked, and that this relationship includes non-linear patterns not captured by simple correlation analysis. Overall, this is the first study to demonstrate an interaction between perceived physical distance and speech-based personality judgments. The findings highlight the importance of spatial audio in shaping social perception in VR and Extended Reality (XR). They suggest that manipulating the perceived distance of virtual speakers could influence how users interpret social cues, potentially enhancing the design of virtual agents for roles such as teachers, assistants, or companions.
