Performance and comfort of monocular head-mounted displays in flight simulators

Abstract

One of our previous studies examining the integration of a head-mounted visual display with a faceted flight simulator display showed that a monocular condition was the most uncomfortable and it also resulted in poorer operator performance. In the present study, we investigated whether this reduction in performance was dependent on eye dominance and whether it could be reduced or eliminated through training. Our performance measure was the amount of time it took operators to make correct decisions on a simplified targeting task using a see-through monocular headmounted display and a large-screen display upon which was presented an out-the-window view of a desert scene. A binocular on-screen viewing condition served as baseline. The results revealed that response time significantly decreased with training but that eye dominance did not exert a significant effect. These results are interpreted within the context of training regimes for using HMDs with sparse symbology.

Interocular conflict from a monocular augmented reality display: Impact of visual characteristics on performance

“…As Brown et al [ 7 ] have suggested, we compared the impact of the display eye according to binocular background conditions. Our results suggest that the impact of the display eye on performance does not depend on the binocular background conditions.…”

“…Performance and comfort were also evaluated with different binocular background contrasts. While previous studies have only varied the contrast of the monocular element [ 6 , 7 , 35 ], our study compared the impact of contrast variation of the binocular background on interocular conflict. Our findings show that, regardless of the contrast of the monocular element, tracking performance was better in the LFS-100% condition than in LFS-20% condition (see Fig 10A ).…”

“…The detection time of the events is shorter when they are projected on the binocular background than when they are projected on the monocular image [ 7 , 8 ].…”

“…However, more recently, the display eye has not been found to influence perception [ 7 , 9 ]. Furthermore, Browne et al [ 7 ] (only) evaluated detection performance against a daylight background in clear weather, similar to optimal flight conditions.…”

“…However, more recently, the display eye has not been found to influence perception [ 7 , 9 ]. Furthermore, Browne et al [ 7 ] (only) evaluated detection performance against a daylight background in clear weather, similar to optimal flight conditions. However, as Hershberger and Guerin [ 6 ] suggest, it is likely that changes in environmental conditions that affect the spatial frequency or contrast of the background alter the visibility of the monocular image.…”