Cultural heritage institutions have a tradition of storytelling. Storytelling is often conducted through audio guides that require visitors to pay attention to details that are essential for understanding the cultural and historical significance of cultural heritage. However, guiding attention to these details using solely audio can be challenging. While various modalities such as physical, auditory, tactile and social have been explored, they each present limitations, particularly in the complex environment of outdoor cultural heritage sites. This study explores an alternative method, specifically Augmented Reality (AR), to address these limitations.

Through a user study conducted at the Kate Sheppard House involving 30 participants, and employing a within-subjects design, we compared two AR guidance techniques (Virtual Arrow and Green Laser) against the traditional Audio Only in terms of response time, knowledge retention and user preference. The study results indicate that, although there was no statistical difference in the objective data, trends suggest a potential advantage of AR in enhancing visitors’ attention. By integrating subjective feedback with observations, we offer implications for designers of outdoor cultural heritage sites and suggest directions for future research.