Nausea in VR and AR? Not anymore...

The opportunities in virtual and augmented reality are limitless. But what exactly is "cybersickness"?

Limitless Solution

VR/AR technology is the way we connect with interactive environments, people, information, and experiences. Ranging from fully immersive virtual worlds to augmented holograms layered over the real world, these rapidly emerging modern tools are transforming all industry sectors worldwide. Nearly a third of executives consider being a pioneer in VR/AR application critically important for the near future. They envision VR/AR solving critical business pain points by providing highly effective workforce training solutions, enhancing daily manufacturing operations, and redefining customer experiences.

With VR/AR, workers can be immersed in virtual environments that deliver training, education, marketing, prevention, and more. By implementing XR on the factory floor, organizations can significantly reduce costs, engage employees in new and exciting ways, improve safety, and introduce the future of work. VR/AR is also destined for commercial purposes, allowing consumers to remotely explore physical products, improving remote customer support, and fostering interactive branding.

What is Cybersickness?

Cybersickness is a form of motion sickness that users may experience during immersive exposure to VR/AR technologies when they are not designed as they should be. The key to successfully avoiding cybersickness lies in maintaining a minimum frame rate and adhering to the fundamental principles of app development. In other words, the human brain is capable of detecting a low number of frames per second (FPS). While this might just look choppy on a standard screen, in VR, your brain recognizes it even if you aren't fully aware of it, and you begin to feel nauseous.

We must ALWAYS avoid this sensation through correct and professional VR/AR application development. At VR SPACE, we create all our applications so they can be used by the general public—completely free of cybersickness!

After prolonged exposure (several hours, though this is individual), a user may experience symptoms such as eye strain, disorientation, sweating, or nausea. These symptoms may persist for a few minutes after exposure. We have encountered businesses where the fear of cybersickness significantly hindered the adoption of VR/AR technology. However, we have eliminated this fear through direct experience with our applications; investors saw for themselves that they do not feel the dreaded cybersickness during short-term exposure.

It must be noted, however, that a small percentage of the population is more sensitive to this technology and may feel discomfort even after brief exposure. These are usually individuals who suffer from severe motion sickness in vehicles, sensitivity to wearing sunglasses, etc.

Another common cause of cybersickness is the so-called 'train effect.' This happens when you are, for example, sitting still and feeling no physical movement, but visually you see the environment moving around you. You might experience this in real life when looking out a train window. It works the same way in Virtual Reality; if you launch a roller coaster simulation—which involves extreme movement all around you—while sitting statically in a chair, the sensory conflict between the visual input and your physical body can cause nausea. This is why we avoid such designs at all costs.

What Can We Do About It?

If we build a VR/AR application correctly—with a sufficient refresh rate to prevent nausea during physical movement, and ensuring your physical movement matches your virtual movement—we are left with only a very small percentage of the population who still suffer from mild discomfort. Why?

The explanation is simple: display technologies are not yet perfect. If you hold a finger in front of your eyes and focus on it, your eye muscles stimulate focus (accommodation), making the finger sharp while the background blurs. You can then easily refocus on the background without moving your eyes. Unfortunately, this is not yet possible in Virtual or Augmented Reality. Everything is displayed on a screen and is therefore flat (the vergence-accommodation conflict). However, this challenge is evolving, and several solutions already exist to eliminate this display handicap.

Once solved, headsets will be limitless, and we will be able to create VR glasses where you won't be able to distinguish virtual reality from our own.