Augmenting Virtual Spatial UIs with Physics- and Direction-Based Visual Motion Cues to Non-Disruptively Mitigate Motion Sickness

The use of Virtual Reality (VR) technology in moving platforms such as vehicles can be difficult due to significant issues around motion sickness, partly due to the physical motion being occluded in VR. The use of visual cues within VR can mitigate this motion sickness. However, these additional visual cues can disrupt users. This paper presents two studies conducted on a yaw-motion platform, investigating the effectiveness of our efforts to manipulate the visually perceived motion of spatial UIs within VR environments using novel physics-based cues, reducing motion sickness with less distraction on tasks. The first study validates our design’s effectiveness, while the second compares it with existing solutions (speed/direction-base cues) regarding motion sickness and distraction levels among VR users. Our findings show that our design can relieve rotational motion sickness while concurrently diminishing distraction. This study serves as a valuable starting point for research into non-disruptively interleaving motion cues with spatial UI components within VR environments to mitigate motion sickness, emphasizing the delicate equilibrium between motion sickness mitigation and preserving the user experience.