Reducing Cybersickness in 360-Degree Virtual Reality

Despite the technological advancements in Virtual Reality (VR), users are constantly combating feelings of nausea and disorientation, the so-called cybersickness. Cybersickness symptoms cause severe discomfort and hinder the immersive VR experience. Here we investigated cybersickness in 360-degree head-mounted display VR. In traditional 360-degree VR experiences, translational movement in the real world is not reflected in the virtual world, and therefore self-motion information is not corroborated by matching visual and vestibular cues, which may trigger symptoms of cybersickness. We evaluated whether a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) software designed to supplement the 360-degree VR experience with artificial six-degrees-of-freedom motion may reduce cybersickness. Explicit (simulator sickness questionnaire and Fast Motion Sickness (FMS) rating) and implicit (heart rate) measurements were used to evaluate cybersickness symptoms during and after 360-degree VR exposure. Simulator sickness scores showed a significant reduction in feelings of nausea during the AI-supplemented six-degrees-of-freedom motion VR compared to traditional 360-degree VR. However, six-degrees-of-freedom motion VR did not reduce oculomotor or disorientation measures of sickness. No changes were observed in FMS and heart rate measures. Improving the congruency between visual and vestibular cues in 360-degree VR, as provided by the AI-supplemented six-degrees-of-freedom motion system considered, is essential for a more engaging, immersive and safe VR experience, which is critical for educational, cultural and entertainment applications.

Upper limb rehabilitation system based on virtual reality for breast cancer patients: Development and usability study

Background Functional exercise is crucial for breast cancer patients after surgery, and the use of virtual reality technology to assist patients with postoperative upper limb functional rehabilitation has gradually attracted the attention of researchers. However, the usability of the developed rehabilitation system is still unknown to a large extent. The purpose of this study was to develop a virtual reality upper limb rehabilitation system for patients after breast cancer surgery and to explore its usability. Methods We built a multidisciplinary team based on virtual reality and human-computer interaction technology and designed and developed an upper limb function rehabilitation system for breast cancer patients after surgery. Breast cancer patients were recruited from a grade III-a general hospital in Changchun city for the experiment. We used the System Usability Scale to evaluate the system availability, the Presence Questionnaire scale to measure the immersive virtual reality scene, and the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire subjective measurement scale for simulator sickness symptoms. Results This upper limb rehabilitation system hardware consisted of Head-mounted Display, a control handle and notebook computers. The software consisted of rehabilitation exercises and game modules. A total of 15 patients were tested on this system, all of whom were female. The mean age was 54.73±7.78 years, and no patients were excluded from the experiment because of adverse reactions such as dizziness and vomiting. The System Usability Scale score was 90.50±5.69, the Presence Questionnaire score was 113.40±9.58, the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire-nausea score was 0.93±1.16, the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire-oculomotor score was 0.80±1.27, the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire-disorientation score was 0.80±1.27, and the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire total score was 2.53±3.40. Conclusions This study fills in the blanks regarding the upper limb rehabilitation of breast cancer patients based on virtual reality technology system usability research. As the starting point of research in the future, we will improve the system’s function and design strictly randomized controlled trials, using larger samples in the promotion, to evaluate its application in breast cancer patients with upper limbs and other physiological functions and the feasibility and effects of rehabilitation.

Hyper-reoriented walking in minimal space

We present a new reorientation technique, “hyper-reoriented walking,” which greatly reduces the amount of physical space required in virtual reality (VR) applications asking participants to walk along a grid-like path (such as the most common layout in department stores). In hyper-reoriented walking, users walk along the gridlines with a virtual speed of twice the speed of real walking and perform turns at cross-points on the grid with half the speed of the rotation speed in the physical space. The impact of the technique on participants’ sense of orientation and increase in simulator sickness was investigated experimentally involving 19 participants walking in a labyrinth of infinite size that included straight corridors and 90° T-junctions at the end of the corridors. Walking accuracy was assessed by tracking the position of the head mounted display, and cyber-sickness was recorded with the simulator sickness questionnaire and with open questions. Walking straight forward was found to closely match the ideal path, which is the grid line, but slight errors occasionally occurred when participants turned at the T-junctions. A correction algorithm was therefore necessary to bring users back to the gridline. For VR experiments in a grid-like labyrinth with paths of 5 m in length, the technique reduces required size of the tracked physical walking area to 3 m × 2 m.

The systematic evaluation of an embodied control interface for virtual reality

Embodied interfaces are promising for virtual reality (VR) because they can improve immersion and reduce simulator sickness compared to more traditional handheld interfaces (e.g., gamepads). We present a novel embodied interface called the Limbic Chair. The chair is composed of two separate shells that allow the user’s legs to move independently while sitting. We demonstrate the suitability of the Limbic Chair in two VR scenarios: city navigation and flight simulation. We compare the Limbic Chair to a gamepad using performance measures (i.e., time and accuracy), head movements, body sway, and standard questionnaires for measuring presence, usability, workload, and simulator sickness. In the city navigation scenario, the gamepad was associated with better presence, usability, and workload scores. In the flight simulation scenario, the chair was associated with less body sway (i.e., less simulator sickness) and fewer head movements but also slower performance and higher workload. In all other comparisons, the Limbic Chair and gamepad were similar, showing the promise of the Chair for replacing some control functions traditionally executed using handheld devices.

Mitigating Visual Discomfort on Head Mounted Displays using Estimated Gaze Dependent Depth of Field

<p>Virtual Reality (VR) applications on Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) are now more common and accessible for personal viewing than before with the introduction of consumer-level devices like the Oculus Rift. However, exposure to VR applications on HMDs results in significant discomfort for the majority of people, the severity of which can both increase or decrease after repeated exposures. This is disadvantageous for the development and adoption of VR, as a long adaptation period cannot be relied on for making Virtual Environments palatable. Symptoms of discomfort caused by the viewing of content on VR devices including HMDs are historically described as “Simulator Sickness” and include eye fatigue, headaches, nausea and sweating; symptoms very similar to those experienced by sufferers of motion sickness. We refer to the specific subset of Simulator Sickness Symptoms caused by visual stimuli as symptoms of “Visual Discomfort”. A conflict between accommodation and vergence depth cues on stereoscopic displays is known to be a significant cause of visual discomfort. This report describes a psychophysical evaluation used for judging the effectiveness of dynamic Depth of Field (DoF) blurring on reducing visual discomfort caused by initial exposure to stereoscopic content on HMDs. Our DoF implementation adjusts the focal region of stereoscopic content based on an estimation of users’ view vectors in real time and is realised in a commercial game engine. Participants report a significant reduction of visual discomfort using a simulator sickness questionnaire when DoF blurring is enabled. On average, a 34% reduction in our sickness measure is observed, indicating that dynamic DoF blurring is an effective rendering technique for reducing visual discomfort.</p>

Mitigating Visual Discomfort on Head Mounted Displays using Estimated Gaze Dependent Depth of Field

<p>Virtual Reality (VR) applications on Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) are now more common and accessible for personal viewing than before with the introduction of consumer-level devices like the Oculus Rift. However, exposure to VR applications on HMDs results in significant discomfort for the majority of people, the severity of which can both increase or decrease after repeated exposures. This is disadvantageous for the development and adoption of VR, as a long adaptation period cannot be relied on for making Virtual Environments palatable. Symptoms of discomfort caused by the viewing of content on VR devices including HMDs are historically described as “Simulator Sickness” and include eye fatigue, headaches, nausea and sweating; symptoms very similar to those experienced by sufferers of motion sickness. We refer to the specific subset of Simulator Sickness Symptoms caused by visual stimuli as symptoms of “Visual Discomfort”. A conflict between accommodation and vergence depth cues on stereoscopic displays is known to be a significant cause of visual discomfort. This report describes a psychophysical evaluation used for judging the effectiveness of dynamic Depth of Field (DoF) blurring on reducing visual discomfort caused by initial exposure to stereoscopic content on HMDs. Our DoF implementation adjusts the focal region of stereoscopic content based on an estimation of users’ view vectors in real time and is realised in a commercial game engine. Participants report a significant reduction of visual discomfort using a simulator sickness questionnaire when DoF blurring is enabled. On average, a 34% reduction in our sickness measure is observed, indicating that dynamic DoF blurring is an effective rendering technique for reducing visual discomfort.</p>

Arguing in Favor of Revising the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire Factor Structure When Assessing Side Effects Induced by Immersions in Virtual Reality

Two issues are increasingly of interest in the scientific literature regarding unwanted virtual reality (VR) induced side effects: (1) whether the latent structure of the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) is comprised of two or three factors, and (2) if the SSQ measures symptoms of anxiety that can be misattributed to unwanted negative side effects induced by immersions in VR. Study 1 was conducted with a sample of 876 participants. A confirmatory factor analysis clearly supported a two-factor model composed of nausea and oculomotor symptoms instead of the 3-factor structure observed in simulators. To tease-out symptoms of anxiety from unwanted negative side effects induced by immersions in VR, Study 2 was conducted with 88 participants who were administered the Trier Stress Social Test in groups without being immersed in VR. A Spearman correlation showed that 11 out of 16 side effects correlated significantly with anxiety. A factor analysis revealed that items measuring general discomfort, difficulty concentrating, sweating, nausea, and vertigo loaded significantly on the anxiety factor comprised of items from the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Finally, a multiple regression indicated that the items measuring general discomfort and difficulty concentrating significantly predicted increases in anxiety. The overall results support the notion that side effects associated with immersions in VR consist mostly of a nausea and an oculomotor latent structure and that a few items are confounding anxiety and cybersickness. The data support the suggestion to revise the scoring procedures of the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire when using this instrument with immersions in VR.

DOES IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL REALITY INDUCE CYBERSICKNESS AND IMPACT EQUILIBRIUM COORDINATION?

Cybersickness continues to become a negative consequence that degrades the interface for users of virtual worlds created for Virtual Reality (VR) users. There are various abnormalities that might cause quantifiable changes in body awareness when donning an Head Mounted Display (HMD) in a Virtual Environment (VE). VR headsets do provide VE that matches the actual world and allows users to have a range of experiences. Motion sickness and simulation sickness performance gives self-report assessments of cybersickness with VEs. In this study a simulator sickness questionnaire is being used to measure the aftereffects of the virtual environment. This research aims to answer if Immersive VR induce cybersickness and impact equilibrium coordination. The present research is formed as a cross-sectional observational analysis. According to the selection criteria, a total of 40 subjects would be recruited from AVBRH, Sawangi Meghe for the research. With intervention being used the experiment lasted 6 months. Simulator sickness questionnaire is used to evaluate the after-effects of a virtual environment. It holds a single period for measuring motion sickness and evaluation of equilibrium tests were done twice at exit and after 10 mins. Virtual reality being used in video games is still in its development. Integrating gameplay action into the VR experience will necessitate a significant amount of study and development. The study has evaluated if Immersive VR induce cybersickness and impact equilibrium coordination. To measure cybersickness, numerous scales have been developed. The essence of cybersickness has been revealed owing to work on motion sickness in a simulated system.

Usability Testing of a VR Flight Training Program

Virtual reality (VR) flight training programs are being developed as a low-cost, highly realistic training option and tested to ensure user expectations for skills mastery are met. A usability pilot study was conducted in two experimental courses comparing the training effectiveness of 2D and VR simulation for flight training at a university in the Southwestern United States. The results indicated that system usability was significantly higher in the VR group. There was no significant difference between groups for perceived workload nor user experience. Although both groups reported low symptoms of simulator sickness, users in the VR group reported significantly higher levels of eye strain. Both groups found the simulations to be enjoyable and several users stated that the simulations were beneficial for learning flight maneuvers. The results of the pilot study demonstrated that overall, VR simulation is similar to 2D simulation for flight training in terms of usability and user satisfaction.