Reducing VR Sickness Through Peripheral Visual Effects
Helmut Buhler, Sebastian Misztal, Jonas Schild · 2018
This paper proposes and evaluates two novel visual effects that can be applied to Virtual Reality (VR) applications to reduce VR sickness with head-mounted displays (HMD). Unlike other techniques that pursue the same goal, our approach allows a user to move continuously through a virtual environment without reducing the perceived field of view (FOV). A within-design study with 18 users compares reported sickness between the two effects and baseline. The results show lower means of sickness in the two novel effects; however, the difference is not statistically significant across all users, replicating large variety in individual reactions found in previous studies. In summary, reducing optical flow in peripheral vision is a promising approach. Future potential lies in adjusting visual effect parameters to maximize impact for large user groups.