An Approach of Reducing Motion Sickness in Passive Virtual Driving through Multi-sensory Simulation of Wind Sensation

This paper introduces a method to reduce the occurrence of motion sickness (MS) during passive motion in virtual reality (VR), such as virtual driving. The approach improves the user’s sense of embodiment (SoE) by adjusting the vestibular, visual, auditory, and tactile perceptions through simulated wind sensation and visual-auditory cues. We developed an interactive wind-sensing simulation helmet to provide airflow around the head and created a virtual motorcycle driving environment with matching visual and auditory cues. Preliminary experiments helped identify the helmet parameters, and subsequent formal experiments tested the effects of various sensory inputs on motion sickness. The results indicate that the wind sensation simulation can effectively: 1) improve proprioception and SoE; 2) reduce the risk of motion sickness during passive driving.