Acceleration or velocity? Exploring minimally disruptive visual motion cues for reducing motion sickness in passenger VR

Motion sickness is a common issue for passengers, where a sensory conflict between visual and physical motion elicits symptoms. This can be particularly problematic if VR headsets are used by passengers in moving vehicles. Commonly used matched motion cues, which visually represent vehicle velocity via in-car displays or VR headsets, can alleviate this conflict but may cause distraction from the task the user is trying to perform, such as working or watching a movie. Acceleration-based visual mitigations could be a good alternative as they present fewer motion cues. However, studies on their potential to cause distraction and their most suitable velocity/speed are lacking. Through an on-the-road study, we demonstrate that these cues reduce motion sickness as effectively as matched motion cues and provide the additional benefit of low distraction, allowing users to concentrate on non-driving related tasks. These findings offer new directions for motion sickness mitigation and highlight the potential of acceleration-based designs in addressing sensory mismatch.