The effects of 0.2Hz varying latency with 20–100ms varying amplitude on simulator sickness in a helmet mounted display

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe relationship between the occurrence of simulator sickness (SS) and varying latency in a helmetmounted display (HMD) was explored in this study. Previous work has always considered latency to be a constant. The aim of this research was to determine if a latency that varied over time would impact the experience of SS for HMD users. An object location task was used while viewing real, live video scenes via HMD. A planned comparisons approach was utilized with four experimental conditions, 2 of them having constant latency (0 ms added to system baseline, 200 ms added to system baseline) and 2 of them having sinusoidally varying latency (100 ms amplitude at 0.2 Hz frequency, and 20-100 ms varying amplitude at 0.2 Hz frequency). These conditions allowed for the assessment of the effects of constant latency vs. varying latency on the experience of SS. The results indicated that a varying latency is associated with greater experience of SS among HMD users than constant latency. Results also indicated, as has other recent research, that added constant latency on its own does not appear to be associated with the experience of higher levels of SS in an HMD.

Cybersickness in Head-Mounted Displays Is Caused by Differences in the User's Virtual and Physical Head Pose

“…Periodic variations in display lag can occur during HMD VR due to system clocks, asynchronous processes, buffer times, and sensor drift errors (Wu et al, 2016). Kinsella et al (2016) and St. Pierre et al (2015) both examined the effects of periodic variations in display lag on cybersickness.…”

“…As they moved their heads, the video images of their surroundings were delayed by a variable or constant amount of time before presentation on the HMD 9 . St. Pierre et al (2015) found that cybersickness was greater when a variable display lag with a frequency of 0.2 Hz and an amplitude of 100 ms was added to their baseline system lag of ∼70 ms.…”

A Tele-Operated Display With a Predictive Display Algorithm

“…If the image is provided directly to the user, the user may suffer because of the delays. Especially, bidirectional communication delay is time-varying in nature and can trigger simulator sickness [11]- [13]. Also, random loss of image data, which is frequent because of the size of stereoscopic images, increases variation in CM .…”

“…CM and OP are the predominant delays; IMU is both relatively small and constant. To reduce the undesirable effects of CM and OP (such as sickness [11]- [13]), we develop a predictive compensation algorithm. The algorithm modifies the delivered images…”

“…However, it is difficult to provide real-time images in such tele-operated situations; the latency, limited bandwidth of the tele-communication network, and the large sizes of stereoscopic images impose delays and packet loss. Such delays and loss of data induced by unstable nature of wireless tele-communication network trigger timevarying delays in image presentation, causing simulator sickness [11]- [13]. The operation delays imposed by the physical limitations of robot neck-camera system increase the delay further.…”