The effect of peripheral cues on motion sickness mitigation when using a VR HMD in a car

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) is a promising candidate for an in-vehicle personal viewing system. However, motion sickness caused by VR in vehicles is a major obstacle to its use. In this study, we propose mitigating motion sickness by presenting peripheral cues that are integral to a VR scene. The cues react to the vehicle’s rotation with a three-dimensional opposing rotation. An on-road experiment was conducted to evaluate whether the peripheral cues mitigate motion sickness. Outcomes were assessed by both subjective motion sickness ratings and physiological responses. There are two conditions: watching a video with the cues and without the cues. Results indicate that motion sickness gradually increased with exposure time, and the mean levels of motion sickness were lower when the cues were presented. We discuss how these results are related to the cue design and suggest directions for future work.