Instant Slow-Motion Visualization of High-Speed Phenomena Based on Event Camera

High-speed phenomena are difficult to perceive due to human vision limitations, yet their immediate understanding is crucial in fields like sports refereeing and neuroscience. Existing systems often rely on post-processing or require active user intervention, failing to provide intuitive, real-time insights. This study presents a system that instantly visualizes high-speed phenomena in slow-motion using an event camera. The system prepares a background image, captured in advance, as a spatial reference. It overlays detected high-speed phenomena on this image for visualization. The system automatically detects high-speed phenomena and transitions to slow-motion for detailed analysis, while maintaining real-time display. Auditory notifications alert users to critical moments. Through two user studies, we confirmed that event cameras improve the accurate perception of high-speed phenomena. Moreover, the integration of Event-Timeline enables users to perceive these phenomena intuitively, without cognitive overload. The experimental results demonstrated a significant usability improvement (SUS: 84.7, NASA-TLX: 16.3). Focus group discussions refined visualization techniques, resulting in the development of design implications. This system enables intuitive and immediate understanding of unpredictable high-speed occurrences, with applications in sports, animal behavior monitoring, and motion analysis.