A Pilot Study on the Impact of Discomfort Relief Measures on Virtual Reality Sickness and Immersion

While there are several theories of virtual reality (VR) sickness causes and pertinent methods suggested for mitigation, it remains an important problem. One possible solution might be to prescribe measures for just relieving the immediate symptoms (vs. addressing the very root causes). Understanding that the severity of the sickness may affect individuals differently, we examined three methods: (1) reducing the weight of the headset (using a suspension mechanism); (2) refreshing the user with a gentle breeze of wind (using a fan); (3) accompanying the VR viewing experience with mindful breathing. We assess the relative sickness reduction effect, if any, of these three measures through a comparative pilot experiment and individual case analysis. The preliminary results point to rather the importance of system usability and how it affects the relationship between the perceived immersion and the extent of sickness. The initial proposition to enhance the user’s physical condition as a way to better withstand VR sickness symptoms could not be established.