Abstract
BackgroundThe increasing popularity of commercial movies showing three dimensional (3D) computer generated images has raised concern about image safety and possible side effects on population health.This study aims to (1) quantify the occurrence of visually induced symptoms suffered by the spectators during and after viewing a commercial 3D movie and (2) to assess individual and environmental factors associated to those symptoms.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was carried out using a paper based, self administered questionnaire. The questionnaire includes individual and movie characteristics and selected visually induced symptoms (tired eyes, double vision, headache, dizziness, nausea and palpitations). Symptoms were queried at 3 different times: during, right after and after 2 hours from the movie.ResultsWe collected 953 questionnaires. In our sample, 539 (60.4%) individuals reported 1 or more symptoms during the movie, 392 (43.2%) right after and 139 (15.3%) at 2 hours from the movie. The most frequently reported symptoms were tired eyes (during the movie by 34.8%, right after by 24.0%, after 2 hours by 5.7% of individuals) and headache (during the movie by 13.7%, right after by 16.8%, after 2 hours by 8.3% of individuals). Individual history for frequent headache was associated with tired eyes (OR = 1.34, 95%CI = 1.01-1.79), double vision (OR = 1.96; 95%CI = 1.13-3.41), headache (OR = 2.09; 95%CI = 1.41-3.10) during the movie and of headache after the movie (OR = 1.64; 95%CI = 1.16-2.32). Individual susceptibility to car sickness, dizziness, anxiety level, movie show time, animation 3D movie were also associated to several other symptoms.ConclusionsThe high occurrence of visually induced symptoms resulting from this survey suggests the need of raising public awareness on possible discomfort that susceptible individuals may suffer during and after the vision of 3D movies.
Highlights
The worldwide increasing popularity of commercial movies showing stereoscopic motion images is documented by the fact that 3D releases are generating more revenues than the same movie released in 2D[1]
Stereoscopic display of motion images in movie theaters are not new and many different techniques have been applied to obtain the stereoscopic illusion
Depending on the specific field of investigation, those adverse effects have been referred as visual fatigue [6], asthenopia [7], eyestrain [8] or visually induced motion sickness [9] (VIMS)
Summary
The worldwide increasing popularity of commercial movies showing stereoscopic (e.g. three dimensional; 3D) motion images is documented by the fact that 3D releases are generating more revenues than the same movie released in 2D[1]. With the advancement of digital technology, many drawbacks related to image generation, transmission, displays that could cause visual discomfort to viewers have been removed or tiled off. A further distinction has been made between objective and subjective conditions of visual fatigue. The latter has been termed visual discomfort and includes those symptoms indicative of (objective) physiological changes that decrease the performance of the visual system [6]. The increasing popularity of commercial movies showing three dimensional (3D) computer generated images has raised concern about image safety and possible side effects on population health. This study aims to (1) quantify the occurrence of visually induced symptoms suffered by the spectators during and after viewing a commercial 3D movie and (2) to assess individual and environmental factors associated to those symptoms
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