Effect of spatial distortions in head-mounted displays on visually induced motion sickness

Incomplete optical distortion correction in VR HMDs leads to spatial dynamic distortion, which is a potential cause of VIMS. A perception experiment is designed for the investigation with three spatial distortion levels, with the subjective SSQ, five-scale VIMS level rating, and objective postural instability adopted as the evaluation metrics. The results show that the factor of spatial distortion level has a significant effect on all metrics increments (p<0.05). As the spatial distortion level drops off, the increments of VIMS symptoms decrease. The study highlights the importance of perfect spatial distortion correction in VR HMDs for eliminating the potential VIMS aggravation effect. (c) 2023 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

Incomplete optical distortion correction in VR HMDs leads to spatial dynamic distortion, which is a potential cause of VIMS. A perception experiment with three spatial distortion levels was conducted, and the subjective SSQ, five-scale VIMS level rating, and objective postural instability were used as evaluation metrics. The results showed that the level of spatial distortion significantly affected all evaluation metrics (p<0.05). As the spatial distortion level decreased, the increment of VIMS symptoms decreased. This study highlights the importance of perfect spatial distortion correction in VR HMDs for eliminating the potential aggravation effect of VIMS.