The Onset Threshold of Cybersickness in Constant and Accelerating Optical Flow

Abstract

This study investigated the principal translational or rotational axis that evokes the most severe cybersickness by detecting constant velocity and acceleration thresholds on the onset of cybersickness. This human subject experiment with 16 participants used a 3D particle field with movement directions (lateral, vertical, yaw, or pitch) and motion profiles (constant velocity or constant acceleration). The results showed that the threshold of pitch optical flow was suggestively lower than that of the yaw, and the vertical threshold was significantly lower than the lateral. Still, there was no effect of scene movement on the level of cybersickness. In four trials, the threshold increased from the first to the second trial, but the rest remained the same as the second one. However, the level of cybersickness increased significantly between the trials on the same day. The disorientation-related symptoms occurred on the first trial day diminished before the second trial day, but the oculomotor-related symptoms accumulated over the days. Although there were no correlations between the threshold and total cybersickness severity, participants with a lower threshold experienced severe nausea. The experimental findings can be applied in designing motion profiles to reduce cybersickness by controlling the optical flow in virtual reality.

Keywords

• cybersickness
• threshold
• virtual reality
• vection
• optical flow
• scene movements