Cybersickness: The Virtual and Real Sickness

First of all, do not think that using Virtual Reality will automatically make you sick. Cybersickness happens to certain people, and not always. It depends on various factors such as the HMDs you are using, your previous experience, how you feel that day, the application, how you are moving in the Virtual Reality environment, and more. No worries about that. As a user, it is difficult to prevent cybersickness, but as a developer, you can do many things. But first, we need to understand what cybersickness exactly is to know how to address it.

Cybersickness can also be called simulator sickness and Virtual Reality Induced Sickness Effect (VRISE). It is a type of motion sickness. How do you know you are experiencing cybersickness? During your Virtual Reality experience, if you feel dizziness, excessive sweating, nausea, discomfort, headache, or even vomiting, it is highly likely you are suffering from cybersickness. The feeling can be similar to the sensation of dizziness when you are in a moving vehicle.

But if Virtual Reality creates a new environment in which you can interact, why does cybersickness happen? There are several reasons:

• Sensory Discrepancy: Your brain can perceive conflicting sensory signals. Let’s explain better: your eyes perceive the movement, but your body and ears do not. This discrepancy (or discoordination) causes dizziness.
• Latency: This occurs when the user’s movement is delayed due to the HMDs or the application performance. Your brain will have difficulties understanding if you are moving because when your physical body has completed the movement, your virtual one continues moving.
• Update Frequency of the Display: Your eyes perceive movement at 90Hz, so less than this rate, cut images, or blurring can confuse your brain.
• Content Design: Certain virtual environments are designed with too much movement, fast twists, or sudden perspective changes. These rapid movements can cause cybersickness if not anticipated.
• Application Movement: Some applications include movement mechanics that can cause cybersickness for not being natural, such as joystick movement, teleportation, using a vehicle (car, motorcycle, spaceship, etc.), and the user is not seated.
• Individual Factors: Some people are more sensitive to cybersickness because of age, experience with Virtual Reality and video games, and physical condition.

Knowing why cybersickness happens is important to detect it. There are many forms and not all of them are equally effective. Keep reading!

Developers and researchers can know when users suffer from cybersickness using questionnaires or by measuring the physiology and behavior of the user. The first method is more subjective, requiring the user to self-analyze, and the second is more objective but requires further development. Here are some examples of the questionnaires: Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ), Motion Sickness Questionnaire (MSQ), and Virtual Reality Sickness Questionnaire (VRSQ).

Regarding physical signals to detect cybersickness, some researchers use postural sway, electrodermal activity (EDA), electroencephalograph (EEG), and eye movement. The data from these signals is extracted and classified with machine learning algorithms. Then, the analyzed data can be used to know when the user feels cybersickness and adapt the application or make changes to ensure user comfort (e.g. Mitigating Cybersickness in Virtual Reality Systems through Foveated Depth-of-Field Blur or Toward Predicting Motion Sickness Using Virtual Reality and a Moving Platform Assessing Brain, Muscles, and Heart Signals)

Okay, okay, there are many ways to detect cybersickness, but what can we do to prevent it?

As a developer, avoid unnatural movement mechanics, like using a joystick. The best approach is to maintain the natural movement and interactions. Related to this, the movement of the scenario should not be too fast, because the user’s body will not feel it that way. Furthermore, there are plugins such as the tunneling effect to create a closer view and reduce the perception of movement. Lastly, improve performance and solve lag problems. This will not only help to avoid cybersickness but also create a better experience of usability and user satisfaction.

As a user, if you feel cybersickness, inform the supervisors. There is no point in continuing the Virtual Reality experience when your brain and body are not fully immersed due to the symptoms. If you really want to continue, just stop for a little and take a rest. It is better to sit on a chair, breathe fresh air, and then restart. Also, you can improve by trying to get accustomed to Virtual Reality experiences, but this will not completely prevent you from suffering it.

Alright! This is not all! There are many gaps in research and soon we will have more information about it! Let us know in the comments if you have ever suffered from cybersickness!

PS: In all our applications, we apply principles to minimize cybersickness! Try them!

#VirtualReality #VR #VRISE #SimulatorSickness #Cybersickness #VRHealth #MotionSickness #Gaming #Technology #ImmersiveExperience #VRDevelopment #TechTips #HealthAndTech

Image designed by Freepik