A Novel Approach to Enhance VR User Awareness of Nearby Non-Virtual Hazards through Adaptive Visual Alerts

Virtual Reality (VR), facilitated with state-of-the-art head-mounted displays (HMD), has the unique ability to provide users with immersive and interactive experiences that are otherwise unattainable in the physical world. Such devices enhance users’ immersion by restricting the user’s peripheral vision, thereby significantly reducing or eliminating their ability to perceive the real-world surroundings. This combination of sensory immersion and interaction fosters a deep sense of presence, making VR a powerful tool for various applications. At the same time, it can cause the users to be unresponsive or even unaware of situations taking place in their physical vicinity. Consequently, we put forth the idea of enhancing user awareness of nearby hazards without disrupting immersion. We present our initial approach to how to notify VR users about danger through adaptive visual alerts based on the intensity of the detected smoke. Moreover, we implemented our proof-of-concept app using the React JavaScript library and verified its usability with the help of well-known Nielsen’s heuristics.