Introduction

This chapter introduces the core themes and objectives of the book, focusing on the significant role of video telephony in modern communication. It explores the historical fascination with real-time audiovisual communication and its current ubiquity in both personal and professional contexts. The chapter underscores the importance of understanding factors that influence the Quality of Experience in video telephony, emphasizing the need to consider individual user perceptions alongside group-specific characteristics. The motivation section highlights the limitations of traditional Mean Opinion Score and signal-based estimations, advocating for a more personalized approach to enhance user satisfaction and usability. This chapter also outlines the book’s structure, providing a roadmap for the subsequent chapters that delve into the development and empirical validation of the Individuality Assisted Estimation model. The aim is to offer a comprehensive framework that integrates concepts from psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and biophysiology to better estimate and improve Quality of Experience (QoE) based on individual differences.