Predicting Individual Susceptibility to Visually Induced Motion Sickness by Questionnaire

John F Golding,Behrang Keshavarz,Aisha Rafiq

doi:10.3389/frvir.2021.576871

Abstract

Background:The introduction of new visual technologies increases the risk of visually induced motion sickness (VIMS). The aim was to evaluate the 6-item Visually Induced Motion Sickness Susceptibility Questionnaire (VIMSSQ; also known as the VIMSSQ-short) and other predictors for individual susceptibility to VIMS.Methods:Healthy participants (10M + 20F), mean age 22.9 (SD 5.0) years, viewed a 360° panoramic city scene projected in the visual equivalent to the situation of rotating about an axis tilted from the vertical. The scene rotated at 0.2 Hz (72° s−1), with a ‘wobble’ produced by superimposed 18° tilt on the rotational axis, with a field of view of 83.5°. Exposure was 10 min or until moderate nausea was reported. Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) was the index of VIMS. Predictors/correlates were VIMSSQ, Motion Sickness Susceptibility Questionnaire (MSSQ), migraine (scale), syncope, Social &amp; Work Impact of Dizziness (SWID), sleep quality/disturbance, personality (“Big Five” TIPI), a prior multisensory Stepping-Vection test, and vection during exposure.Results:The VIMSSQ had good scale reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.84) and correlated significantly with the SSQ (r= 0.58). Higher MSSQ, migraine, syncope, and SWID also correlated significantly with SSQ. Other variables had no significant relationships with SSQ. Regression models showed that the VIMSSQ predicted 34% of the individual variation of VIMS, increasing to 56% as MSSQ, migraine, syncope, and SWID were incorporated as additional predictors.Conclusion:The VIMSSQ is a useful adjunct to the MSSQ in predicting VIMS. Other predictors included migraine, syncope, and SWID. No significant relationship was observed between vection and VIMS.

Highlights

Induced motion sickness (VIMS) is a phenomenon similar to traditional motion sickness that is often observed in users of visual technologies such as simulators or Virtual Reality (VR) glasses
There is some evidence that several preexisting medical conditions that have an impact on quality of life are associated with raised motion sickness susceptibility, including dizziness (Bronstein et al, 2010; Golding and Patel, 2017), proneness to syncope, worse sleep quality (Kaplan et al, 2017), and personality factors such as trait anxiety or neuroticism
Stronger Visually induced motion sickness (VIMS) was significantly associated with higher scores in the Visually Induced Motion Sickness Susceptibility Questionnaire (VIMSSQ), MSSQ, migraine, syncope, and SWID measures

Summary

Introduction

Induced motion sickness (VIMS) is a phenomenon similar to traditional motion sickness that is often observed in users of visual technologies such as simulators or Virtual Reality (VR) glasses. Some special groups have reduced or heightened risk: Individuals who have complete bilateral loss of labyrinthine (vestibular apparatus) function are largely immune to motion sickness (Kennedy et al, 1968; Cheung et al, 1991) This may not be true under all circumstances, since there is evidence that a small minority of bilateral labyrinthine defective individuals are still susceptible to motion sickness provoked by visual stimuli designed to induce self-motion (vection) during pseudo-Coriolis stimulation (i.e., pitching head movements in a rotating visual field) (Johnson et al, 1999). The aim was to evaluate the 6-item Visually Induced Motion Sickness Susceptibility Questionnaire (VIMSSQ; known as the VIMSSQ-short) and other predictors for individual susceptibility to VIMS

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion