Simulator Sickness in Virtual Environments.

Abstract

Abstract : Virtual Reality (also known as Virtual Environment or VE) technology shows many promising applications in areas of training, medicine, architecture, astronomy, data handling, teleoperation, and entertainment. A potential threat to using this - technology is the mild to severe discomfort that some users experience during or after a VE session. Similar effects have been observed with flight and driving simulators. The simulator sickness literature forms a solid background for the study of sickness in virtual environments and many of the findings may be directly applicable. This report reviews literature concerning simulator sickness, motion sickness, and virtual environments. Forty factors that may be associated with simulator sickness in virtual environments are identified. These factors form three global categories: subject, simulator, and task. The known and predicted effects of these factors on sickness in VEs are discussed. A table summarizes the information presented in this report. The information can be used as a guide for future research concerning simulator sickness in virtual environments.