What is virtual reality (VR) sickness? A form of motion sickness that affects some virtual reality platform users who use head-mounted displays. The NSERC-Prompt Industrial Research Chair in User Experience recently conducted a study on this topic. Results suggest that integrating movement into the platforms is a good way to combat this problem.
D-BOX Technologies, a Quebec-based SME has designed and marketed a cinema seat to enhance the virtual reality experience by adding high-fidelity motion to stimulate some of the user’s senses.
This sensory interface, which can be adapted to different environments (cinema, video games, etc.), has already created a buzz among many content creators. The designers of the device wished to collaborate with the NSERC-Prompt Industrial Research Chair in User Experience in order to check whether the device could, among other things, mitigate the effects of VR sickness.
Researchers from HEC Montréal’s Tech3Lab measured specific parameters of 45 users of this high-fidelity motion system, during 10-minute sequences. Their readings confirmed that the components incorporated into this chair do indeed increase the sense of immersion and generate a better psychophysiological state among testers.
This study, which is a first, made it possible to understand that discomfort arises when there is dissonance between what the body does and the visual information that the brain records. However, when a highly precise movement is added to the experience, it “tricks” the brain. The brain then interprets as being real, what it perceives, thereby reducing VR sickness.
The results have exceeded the initial expectations of D-BOX Technologies.
This study also opens up new possibilities for an industry whose rapid growth might be curbed by VR sickness.
“The results of this study crown 15 years of effort. We knew we owned excellent technology, but attesting to it with rigorous research has given us an incredible boost in credibility.”
“Our mission is to promote knowledge in the field of technology interface assessment. Partnerships with industry offer us a unique opportunity to achieve this and to also train highly qualified professionals.”
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