Assessment of eye fatigue caused by head-mounted displays using eye-tracking

Yan Wang,Xuefei Song,Guangtao Zhai,Xiongkuo Min,Sichao Chen,Zhongpai Gao

doi:10.1186/s12938-019-0731-5

Abstract

BackgroundHead-mounted displays (HMDs) and virtual reality (VR) have been frequently used in recent years, and a user’s experience and computation efficiency could be assessed by mounting eye-trackers. However, in addition to visually induced motion sickness (VIMS), eye fatigue has increasingly emerged during and after the viewing experience, highlighting the necessity of quantitatively assessment of the detrimental effects. As no measurement method for the eye fatigue caused by HMDs has been widely accepted, we detected parameters related to optometry test. We proposed a novel computational approach for estimation of eye fatigue by providing various verifiable models.ResultsWe implemented three classifications and two regressions to investigate different feature sets, which led to present two valid assessment models for eye fatigue by employing blinking features and eye movement features with the ground truth of indicators for optometry test. Three graded results and one continuous result were provided by each model, respectively, which caused the whole result to be repeatable and comparable.ConclusionWe showed differences between VIMS and eye fatigue, and we also presented a new scheme to assess eye fatigue of HMDs users by analysis of parameters of the eye tracker.

Highlights

Head-mounted displays (HMDs) and virtual reality (VR) have been frequently used in recent years, and a user’s experience and computation efficiency could be assessed by mounting eye-trackers
In order to overcome the shortcomings of previously reported studies, we proposed an objective algorithm to estimate eye fatigue caused by an HMD using eye-tracking data
In the present research, an objective algorithm was developed to estimate eye fatigue caused by an HMD using eye-tracking data

Summary

Introduction

Head-mounted displays (HMDs) and virtual reality (VR) have been frequently used in recent years, and a user’s experience and computation efficiency could be assessed by mounting eye-trackers. In addition to visually induced motion sickness (VIMS), eye fatigue has increasingly emerged during and after the viewing experience, highlighting the necessity of quantitatively assessment of the detrimental effects. Eye fatigue and visually induced motion sickness (VIMS) are highly concerned [1,2,3,4]. These display technologies possess a variety of advantages compared with traditional systems, while a remarkable stress is imposed due to the existence of a shorter distance from screen to observer’s eyes. Symptoms of eye fatigue can be identified through subjective feelings and objective indicators. Subjective feelings include various kinds of symptoms, such as soreness of the

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Discussion

Conclusion