VR/AR technologies are transforming how we connect with people, information, and experiences. Ranging from fully immersive virtual worlds to augmentation holograms overlaid on the real-world, VR/AR technologies are rapidly being considered and adopted in industries across the globe. Nearly a third of executives rate being a pioneer in the application of VR/AR technologies as critically important, envisioning VR/AR as addressing critical enterprise pain points through provision of highly effective workforce training solutions, augmentation of day-to-day production activities, and redefining customer experiences.
With VR/AR, workers can be immersed in virtual environments that bring new context and realism to industry training. By implementing XR on the factory floor, organizations can significantly cut costs, engage their employees in new and exciting ways, improve safety, and re-imagine the future of work. VR/AR is also destined to reshape commerce, enabling consumers to remotely explore physical products, enhancing remote customer support, and fostering interactive branding.
The opportunities are limitless. Well, they will be once we fully understand and deal with cybersickness.
What is cybersickness?
Cybersickness is a form of motion sickness that users may experience during immersive exposure to VR/AR technologies. Depending on the content and technology, 20-95% of users typically experience some symptoms, including headache, eyestrain, disorientation, sweating, nausea, and beyond. Symptoms can last from minutes to hours after exposure, with problematic lingering post exposure effects including unstable posture, shifts in vision, and altered hand-eye coordination. If you are thinking that sounds like intoxication, it has been equated to such! While cybersickness is most often associated with VR, it is something that can affect users in all types of immersive environments. The potential for cybersickness could significantly impact the adoption of VR/AR technologies for the enterprise if it is not adequately addressed.
Is cybersickness really a problem in AR?
Cybersickness has been researched and characterized in VR for decades, but we don’t know as much about the extent it affects users of AR technology. Typically, VR users experience more symptoms on the disorientation to nausea end of the scale, whereas AR users are more likely to experience headaches and eyestrain. While these symptoms may not sound debilitating, when AR headsets are used for extended periods of time, these symptoms can have a significant impact and, as indicated by a recent study, be as severe as those associated with VR exposure. Think about how you would feel if you wore glasses with the wrong prescription all day… that is what donning AR for long periods of time may feel like for some users.
Further, when users start to experience cybersickness in VR, they oftentimes become nauseous, abort their exposure, and take a break to feel better; but with symptoms that seem as mild as a headache, users may try to “power through” AR long duration exposures, causing potentially more persistent post exposure effects (e.g., blurry vision, altered depth perception). If AR technology poses risks to post exposure visual functioning, this could affect postural stability or hand-eye coordination and present a safety risk. It is critically important to understand the impacts of long duration AR exposure and mitigate them where possible.
What can you do about it?
Here are a few guidelines on how to limit cybersickness in AR and realize the full potential of this innovative technology.
Limit Exposure Duration
Limiting exposure in AR headsets to 20 minutes or less, with at least a 30 minute break before the next exposure can help decrease severity of cybersickness significantly. This allows a user’s body to readjust and recalibrate to the real-world. This is particularly important if the user was performing close-up tasks in the headset, as long duration AR exposure while performing close-up tasks can cause post exposure dexterity issues. If your AR applications require headset exposures longer than 20 minutes, you should anticipate dropouts and higher levels of cybersickness, including prolonged headaches and eyestrain. Make sure to assess these symptoms for their severity, as this could prove important to user safety post exposure.
Use Multiple VR/AR Technologies
As AR grows within multiple industries, we will eventually see the advent of truly adaptive AR solutions that will be able to personalize the experience based on a user’s physiology, but until this is a reality, it may make sense to consider coupling multiple technologies. For example, mobile AR (i.e., on a tablet or phone) can deliver volumes of information without fear of lengthy exposure, such as when conveying declarative knowledge. Since AR headset-based training is generally associated with more pronounced cybersickness, it may be safer, and possibly more cost effective, to use it sparingly, say when delivering contextually relevant information or procedural hands-on knowledge.
In Closing
Enterprise leaders aim to redefine their organization with VR/AR technologies. Understanding the possibility of cybersickness associated with XR and ways to manage it can assist in the design and development of important application guidelines and usage protocols. A recent study has found that cybersickness symptoms in long duration AR exposure may persist just as long as some of the worst VR systems. So, even though the cybersickness symptoms in AR (visual fatigue, headaches) maybe be less obvious than those in VR (overt gastrointestinal distress), the symptoms associated with AR can linger for long periods of time post exposure and compromise safety. But by following some simple guidelines and understanding associated risks, industries across the globe can successfully adopt these immersive technologies and reap their tremendous benefits.
Contact:
Name: Claire Hughes
Email Address: claire.hughes@designinteractive.net
