In the last month there has been a lot of discussion within the virtual reality (VR) industry around ways to combat the effects of motion sickness for users. Sony put through a patent recently that looks to see technology come to their headset to help reduce the impact of motion sickness. Fraunhofer also has a new headset in development that leverages new lens technology to help users overcome sickness and headaches. Now, researchers at the University of Waterloo have revealed that they have made progress towards predicting who is likely to feel sick from using VR technology.
In a recent study, the researchers at the University of Waterloo found that they could predict whether an individual will experience cybersickness (motion sickness caused by using VR) by measuring how long they sway in response to a moving visual feild. The researchers believe that this knowledge will help them to develop counteractions to cybersickness which could allow suffers to enjoy VR experiences even more.
“Knowing who might suffer from cybersickness, and why, allows us to develop targeted interventions to help reduce, or even prevent, the onset of symptoms,” said Michael Barnett-Cowan, neuroscience professor in the Department of Kinesiology and senior author of the paper. “Considering this technology is in a growth phase with industries such as gaming, design, medicine and automotive starting to use it, understanding who is negatively impacted and how to help them is crucial.”