{"id":2560,"date":"2017-06-02T13:41:42","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T12:41:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.vrs.org.uk\/?page_id=2560"},"modified":"2017-06-30T13:53:29","modified_gmt":"2017-06-30T12:53:29","slug":"human-factors-user-studies","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vrs.org.uk\/virtual-reality\/human-factors-and-user-studies.html","title":{"rendered":"Human Factors and User Studies"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article discusses human factors issues surrounding virtual reality<\/a> and how these might be addressed. One of the main problems with virtual reality is motion sickness brought on by poor design or ergonomics which affects people in different ways<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This motion sickness occurs when the person views an interactive display but their head remains still at all times. Many VR systems use a tracking device which records head movements made by the person and adjusts the images accordingly.<\/p>\n

Cybersickness<\/h2>\n

But any disruption to these causes disorientation, dizziness and feelings of nausea which are known as cybersickness. This condition affects everyone differently with some people only experiencing this after a several hours whereas others are affected within a few minutes.<\/p>\n

A time lag or latency is one of a couple of reasons for this sensation. Another is the equipment used such as a head mounted display (HMD) and lenses which cause affect the balance as well as causing tiredness. This is a particular feature of CAVE fully immersive systems also leads to cybersickness.<\/p>\n

Usability of virtual reality systems<\/h2>\n

User studies need to be carried out to determine the exact cause of this condition and ways of dealing with the symptoms. This is important as there needs to be guidelines in place regarding the safe use of virtual reality systems and things to be aware of when doing so.<\/p>\n

But there are principles which can be assessed with virtual reality that are used in standard usability testing. These include:<\/p>\n