Change of Blink Rate in Viewing Virtual Reality with HMD

Abstract

The eye blink rate, a major human physiological response, directly affects ocular diseases, such as keratitis and dry eye syndrome. It has been shown that the eye blink rate in normal eyes has a certain frequency for individuals, from 6–30 times/min. It was suggested in a previous study that the eye blink rate can be decreased during the viewing of high-intensity and realistic content. Therefore, in this paper, we examine the change of the eye blink rate during the HMD (head-mounted display) viewing of VR (virtual reality) contents; accordingly, we propose an algorithm to measure the eye blink rate as well as compare and analyze this rate in three different environments (natural, monitor, and HMD). We confirmed that IPD (interpupillary distance) and phoria affected the eye blink rate in each environment. In this experiment, 21 subjects (28.38 ± 6.87 years) were selected, and a paired t-test was performed for changes in the eye blink rate over 1 min for each environment. The IPD and phoria effects on the eye blink rate were confirmed using the Spearman’s correlation coefficient. In this experiment, the eye blink rate was decreased in the monitor and HMD environments compared with the natural environment, while that in the HMD environment was decreased compared with the monitor environment. The results of the correlation analysis of far IPD and the eye blink rate show no statistical significance or correlation. The correlation analysis of near IPD and the eye blink rate showed a strong positive correlation of the eye blink rate in the monitor environment. The correlation analysis of distance phoria and the eye blink rate showed a strong negative correlation of the eye blink rate in the HMD environment. The correlation analysis of near-field phoria and the eye blink rate showed a strong negative correlation of the eye blink rate in the HMD environment. It is expected that the results of this study will be used as a VR-viewing recommendation.

Assessment of eye fatigue caused by head-mounted displays using eye-tracking

“…Thus, a series of subjective indexes had been captured by optometry instruments and accommodation response were explored as indicators of visual fatigue [14, 28]. Moreover, eye movement was employed to assess mental fatigue and visual fatigue [29, 30]. It was revealed that EBR decreased in HMD environment compared with that in natural environment [30].…”

“…Moreover, eye movement was employed to assess mental fatigue and visual fatigue [29, 30]. It was revealed that EBR decreased in HMD environment compared with that in natural environment [30]. However, due to equipment limitations, EBR could not be measured when the subject was using the HMD.…”

Short Term Effect of Virtual Reality Headset on Blink Rate and Inter-Blink Interval

“…The distance between participants and laptop was 1 metre. The short distances between the eye and the display during headmounted display (HMD) viewing of VR and high immersion experience are factors that cause a decrease in the eye blink rate [6]. Participants' blinks were videotaped after 30 minutes of watching the video.…”

“…Thus, VR is safe to be used up to 30 minutes. However, this paper [6] suggested having temporary cessation of HMD usage if there is feeling of dryness on eyes to rest the eyes and parental guidance are needed for children. This paper [10] claimed that short term use of HMD reduces TBUT contributed to dry eye symptoms.…”

Gaze-Controlled Virtual Retrofitting of UAV-Scanned Point Cloud Data

“…In immersive VE, the number of consecutive user blinks is lower than that in a non-immersive VE [29]. Hence, user eye blinks were considered to be a useful interaction.…”