Abstract
This paper compares the effects of viewing videos with 2D and 3D displays with regard to the viewing distance (3H vs. 6H, where H is the height of the screen) and viewing time to determine the physical stresses in terms of heart rate variability, galvanic skin resistance (GSR), and performance of the viewer (percent of correct responses). Twenty healthy male university students with a mean age ± standard deviation of 27.7 ± 2.53 years participated in this study as volunteers. None had color blindness, and all had normal vision acuity. Display type by viewing distance interaction had a significant effect on most of the heart rate variability measures and associated with watching time for the GSR responses. The results concluded that viewing the 3D display from a short viewing distance produced significantly high physical stresses compared to viewing the 2D display from the same short viewing distance. However, the 3D display seemed to impart lower physical stress than the 2D display at long viewing distances. The findings of this study indicate that physical stresses appeared significant at close viewing distance after watching a 3D display for 50 min and increased with continued watching time. In addition, viewer performance was higher for the 3D compared to 2D display type.
Highlights
The use of stereoscopic 3D display has been associated with a myriad of visual fatigue symptoms such as nausea, fatigue, eyestrain, malaise, and headache [1]
This study investigated the effects of the display type, viewing distance, and viewing time on the physical stress based on heart rate variability (HRV) and galvanic skin resistance (GSR)
When the viewing distance is changed from 3H to 6H, the heart rate increased for the 2D display type, whereas it decreased for the 3D display type
Summary
The use of stereoscopic 3D display has been associated with a myriad of visual fatigue symptoms such as nausea, fatigue, eyestrain, malaise, and headache [1] These symptoms were observed to have a higher rate of incidence within existing populations. The American Optometric Association (1995) performed a survey that discussed the occurrence of these symptoms in at least a quarter of individuals who played 3D video games or watched 3D films [1, 2] Such results were corroborated by informal online surveys conducted by http://HomeTheater.com that highlighted the presence of visual fatigue symptoms in 53% of individuals who extensively viewed 3D content [1, 3]. The study noted that an additional 8% of the 3D viewers expressed discomfort that arose either as a result of the 3D glasses or due to the nocebo effect in the form of negative presumptions regarding 3D viewing [4, 6]
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