Vibrations Reduce Cybersickness and Enhance Presence in VR

Virtual Reality (VR) has become tremendously relevant for rehabilitation, training, research, and entertainment purposes. Unfortunately, many VR users experience cybersickness, a sensation that is characterised by a variety of symptoms ranging from eyestrain to dizziness or nausea. Cybersickness represents a major challenge for the use of VR, and reliable and effective methods that can prevent or minimise cybersickness are currently lacking. The present project will address the issue of cybersickness by presenting VR users with vibrotactile cues around the torso that provide additional information about the direction of motion within the VR scene. While participants navigate through the VR world, we assume that vibrotactile cues will significantly increase the sensation of presence (i.e., the feeling of "being there" in the VR world) and consequently decrease the sensation of cybersickness. If successful, our results have the potential to dramatically improve the way we interact with VR.