A narrative review of immersive virtual reality’s ergonomics and risks at the workplace: cybersickness, visual fatigue, muscular fatigue, acute stress, and mental overload

S. Palmisano Rikeya Constable

8 Maret 2022

While head-mounted display (HMD) based gaming is often limited by cybersickness, research suggests that repeated exposure to virtual reality (VR) can reduce the severity of these symptoms. This study was therefore aimed at: (1) examining the exposure conditions required to reduce cybersickness during HMD VR; and (2) learning whether such reductions generalise from one HMD VR game to another. Our participants played two commercially-available HMD VR video games over two consecutive days. Their first exposure to HMD VR on both days was always to a 15-min virtual rollercoaster ride. On Day 1, half of our participants also played a virtual climbing game for 15-min, while the rest of them finished testing early. Participants in the latter group were only exposed to the climbing game late on Day 2. We found that sickness was significantly reduced for our participants on their second exposure to the virtual rollercoaster. However, sickness to the rollercoaster on Day 2 was unaffected by whether they had played the climbing game on Day 1. Sickness during virtual climbing was also unaffected by group differences in exposure to the virtual rollercoaster. This convergent evidence suggested that the reductions in cybersickness produced by repeated exposure to HMD VR were game-specific. While these benefits did not generalise to the second game, two 15-min exposures to the same HMD VR game was sufficient to significantly reduce cybersickness in this study.

Sarah E. MacPherson Josie Linnell F. Argelaguet + 2 lainnya

29 Januari 2023

Cybersickness is a drawback of virtual reality (VR), which also affects the cognitive and motor skills of users. The Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) and its variant, the Virtual Reality Sickness Questionnaire (VRSQ), are two tools that measure cybersickness. However, both tools suffer from important limitations which raise concerns about their suitability. Two versions of the Cybersickness in VR Questionnaire (CSQ-VR), a paper-and-pencil and a 3D–VR version, were developed. The validation of the CSQ-VR and a comparison against the SSQ and the VRSQ were performed. Thirty-nine participants were exposed to three rides with linear and angular accelerations in VR. Assessments of cognitive and psychomotor skills were performed at baseline and after each ride. The validity of both versions of the CSQ-VR was confirmed. Notably, CSQ-VR demonstrated substantially better internal consistency than both SSQ and VRSQ. Additionally, CSQ-VR scores had significantly better psychometric properties in detecting a temporary decline in performance due to cybersickness. Pupil size was a significant predictor of cybersickness intensity. In conclusion, the CSQ-VR is a valid assessment of cybersickness with superior psychometric properties to SSQ and VRSQ. The CSQ-VR enables the assessment of cybersickness during VR exposure, and it benefits from examining pupil size, a biomarker of cybersickness.

Ayah Hamad Bochen Jia

1 September 2022

Despite virtual reality (VR) being initially marketed toward gaming, there are many potential and existing VR applications in various sectors and fields, including education, training, simulations, and even in exercise and healthcare. Unfortunately, there is still a lack of general understanding of the strengths and limitations of VR as a technology in various application domains. Therefore, the aim of this literature review is to contribute to the library of literature concerning VR technology, its applications in everyday use, and some of its existing drawbacks. Key VR applications were discussed in terms of how they are currently utilized or can be utilized in the future, spanning fields such as medicine, engineering, education, and entertainment. The main benefits of VR are expressed through the text, followed by a discussion of some of the main limitations of current VR technologies and how they can be mitigated or improved. Overall, this literature review shows how virtual reality technology has the potential to be a greatly beneficial tool in a multitude of applications and a wide variety of fields. VR as a technology is still in its early stages, but more people are becoming interested in it and are optimistic about seeing what kind of changes VR can make in their everyday lives. With how rapidly modern society has adapted to personal computers and smartphones, VR has the opportunity to become the next big technological turning point that will eventually become commonplace in most households.

B. Sokołowska

25 Februari 2023

Innovative technologies of the 21st century have an extremely significant impact on all activities of modern humans. Among them, virtual reality (VR) offers great opportunities for scientific research and public health. The results of research to date both demonstrate the beneficial effects of using virtual worlds, and indicate undesirable effects on bodily functions. This review presents interesting recent findings related to training/exercise in virtual environments and its impact on cognitive and motor functions. It also highlights the importance of VR as an effective tool for assessing and diagnosing these functions both in research and modern medical practice. The findings point to the enormous future potential of these rapidly developing innovative technologies. Of particular importance are applications of virtual reality in basic and clinical neuroscience.

Jingyi Li Stefan Mayer A. Butz + 3 lainnya

26 Maret 2021

Ubiquitous technology lets us work in flexible and decentralised ways. Passengers can already use travel time to be productive, and we envision even better performance and experience in vehicles with emerging technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) headsets. However, the confined physical space constrains interactions while the virtual space may be conceptually borderless. We therefore conducted a VR study (N = 33) to examine the influence of physical restraints and virtual working environments on performance, presence, and the feeling of safety. Our findings show that virtual borders make passengers touch the car interior less, while performance and presence are comparable across conditions. Although passengers prefer a secluded and unlimited virtual environment (nature), they are more productive in a shared and limited one (office). We further discuss choices for virtual borders and environments, social experience, and safety responsiveness. Our work highlights opportunities and challenges for future research and design of rear-seat VR interaction.