Depth gaze and ECG based frequency dynamics during motion sickness in stereoscopic 3D movie

Abstract

The simulator sickness questionnaire (SSQ) has been a prevalent method to observe motion sickness in stereoscopic 3D motion picture. However, previous works do not provide adequate comprehension of the relationship between SSQ, depth gaze behavior, and heart rate variability in the stereoscopic 3D motion picture. To fill this research gap, we present a novel investigation of motion sickness in stereoscopic 3D movies using SSQ, electrocardiography (ECG), and 3D gaze tracking. Forty participants (N=40) watched only one of two 3D contents—3D content with a strong or a moderate sensation of vection. We observed that viewers of the 3D content with an intense feeling of vection more frequently reported symptoms of nausea (p<0.005) and disorientation (p<0.05) than their counterpart. SSQ, ECG, and 3D gaze tracking data show that sickness level could be reduced by persistently gazing at a particular point during exposure of 3D contents (p < 0.001). Additionally, we found that individuals who were prone to motion sickness experienced depth gaze oscillation during several provoking scenes in dynamic 3D contents. Our experimental results may be used as a guideline in the development of a motion sickness predictor for various stereoscopic 3D motion pictures.