We tested the effect of viewing duration to the user experience and visual comfort with NED. Nineteen participants viewed “The Queen” for 40 and 95 minutes. Longer viewing time produced more sickness and visual strain symptoms but in general the symptom levels remained low and the experience was pleasant.

Abstract— Near‐to‐eye displays (NEDs) provide a unique way to perceive a larger image than the device itself. The user acceptance of commercially available NEDs has not been high partly because of reported physiological symptoms. Devices also tend to be thick and heavy, and therefore uncomfortable to wear. To overcome these shortcomings and to make a very usable device, a new approach was needed. By using very thin plastic light guides with diffractive structures on the surfaces, many of the known obstacles can be notably reduced. These exit pupil expanders (EPEs) enable a light and thin design for see‐through NEDs. The so‐called chevron EPE was designed to further improve the design and usability aspects of NEDs. The diffractive EPE has typically one incoupling grating area that delivers light into the light guide symmetrically towards the left and right eyes. By using slanted or overhanging gratings, the incoupling is very asymmetric. If the incoupling area is divided into two parts, each having opposite slanting angles, the EPE plate can be cut in half, and the left and right parts can be separated. The plates can be further tilted to a chevron shape following more closely the human face and mimicking the conventional eyeglass design. The reflection of the light from the tilted plate is directed out from the image‐forming optics, and therefore the contrast is improved. The privacy of the usage is improved because at the output the secondary beams are harder to observe. Because the device is brought closer to face, it enables better weight balance. The chevron geometry partially prevents the ambient light from the sides to enter the diffractive structures, and thus the unwanted reflections are also reduced. Furthermore, the half‐size of the chevron EPE parts from the undivided EPE results in a better production yield.

Abstract— The experience of various people related to a real 3‐D cinema visit has been studied, and the results will be discussed. This study has two distinct parts, which includes the comfort of the viewers and their sense of presence. Eighty‐four viewers filled out questionnaires about comfort and visual strain. Forty‐one subjects described their presence experience during the movie presentation. A majority of the people felt comfortable after the movie viewing; they experienced only mild‐eyestrain‐related symptoms. People evaluated the movie world as highly realistic, but they did not feel that they were actors in the virtual‐movie world. Most of the participants would recommend 3‐D cinema to friends because it was a very entertaining experience.

A great deal of our daily communication is technologymediated and ranges from phone discussions to negotiations in sophisticated video conferences. We studied the mediated communication interaction and experience in three experimental setups: high quality video conferencing, Skype calls with webcam and audio conferencing. The communication experience was studied with a statistically developed five-dimensional measure. The differences were analysed with a direct multivariate discriminant analysis which enabled mapping of the set-ups in a two-dimensional communication experience space. The clearest difference between the groups was found in co-presence. The second dimension grounding also disclosed each groups' characteristics well. The added value of a multidimensional approach to user experience in communication technology is further discussed.Index Terms-Communication systems, teleconferencing, human factors, communication experience INTRODUCTIONncreasingly people are communicating through different mediated channels instead of face-to-face. Present day technologies, for example, enable high-quality video conferencing, video over IP, and related real-time communication scenarios along with audio and text-only solutions. Furthermore, the interest in different high-tech communication systems is increasing because of growing concern over ecological issues, the savings in travel expenses, and time.One of the key issues in mediated communications is the way technology affects the interaction and communication experience, i.e., whether the technology hinders or facilitates communication. For successful communication and collaboration, emotional and social signals between the participants need to be conveyed in such a way that the communication feels effortless, even fun, and that the communication goals are met. To achieve this result each participant should be able to perceive the information conveyed during the interaction as it is intended to be understood. The process for achieving these mutual goals of communication is generally called grounding [1].Fluent communication is often hindered by the insufficient quality of the tools, the difficulties in setting up the meetings, poor connections and the difficulty to distinguish between the speakers; these problems are familiar to anyone who has used different kinds of tools to communicate. The communication channels and tools are often not sophisticated enough to deliver non-verbal communication which is especially important in a social context. The problems are usually handled by utilising different strategies to achieve mutual understanding; with limited channels more effort is required to convey information and achieve the communication goals [1], [2]. As it is not always possible to fix the technology in an ad hoc manner, new behaviours emerge to compensate for such problems including identifying oneself before speaking, a formal protocol in turn-taking and strict discourse rules, all of which add to the complexity of the situation. In optimal cases technology wou...

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