3D Visual Discomfort Predictor: Analysis of Disparity and Neural Activity Statistics

Abstract

Being able to predict the degree of visual discomfort that is felt when viewing stereoscopic 3D (S3D) images is an important goal toward ameliorating causative factors, such as excessive horizontal disparity, misalignments or mismatches between the left and right views of stereo pairs, or conflicts between different depth cues. Ideally, such a model should account for such factors as capture and viewing geometries, the distribution of disparities, and the responses of visual neurons. When viewing modern 3D displays, visual discomfort is caused primarily by changes in binocular vergence while accommodation in held fixed at the viewing distance to a flat 3D screen. This results in unnatural mismatches between ocular fixations and ocular focus that does not occur in normal direct 3D viewing. This accommodation vergence conflict can cause adverse effects, such as headaches, fatigue, eye strain, and reduced visual ability. Binocular vision is ultimately realized by means of neural mechanisms that subserve the sensorimotor control of eye movements. Realizing that the neuronal responses are directly implicated in both the control and experience of 3D perception, we have developed a model-based neuronal and statistical framework called the 3D visual discomfort predictor (3D-VDP)that automatically predicts the level of visual discomfort that is experienced when viewing S3D images. 3D-VDP extracts two types of features: 1) coarse features derived from the statistics of binocular disparities and 2) fine features derived by estimating the neural activity associated with the processing of horizontal disparities. In particular, we deploy a model of horizontal disparity processing in the extrastriate middle temporal region of occipital lobe. We compare the performance of 3D-VDP with other recent discomfort prediction algorithms with respect to correlation against recorded subjective visual discomfort scores,and show that 3D-VDP is statistically superior to the other methods.

Digitalization versus immersion: performance and subjective evaluation of 3D perception with emulated accommodation and parallax in digital microsurgery

“…Inaccuracies of stereo content as demonstrated in this study play a major role in 3D induced fatigue and 3D-induced discomfort. 37 It can thus be assumed that decreased realism of 3D perception in static stereo images shows the potential to increase fatigue in digital surgical systems. Artificial stereo-induced fatigue has been measured extensively.…”

“…Artificial stereo-induced fatigue has been measured extensively. 13,17,19,22,30,31,34,[37][38][39][40][41][42] Target applications evaluated were mainly the commodity use of stereo content, in TV, cinema, or gaming VR. 20,21,[43][44][45][46] Fatigue after viewing of 3D content is a well-reproduced phenomenon; its occurrence is temporary and limited to the duration of use and some hours thereafter.…”

Curved TVs improved watching experience when display curvature radii approached viewing distances: Effects of display curvature radius, viewing distance, and lateral viewing position on TV watching experience

“…TV watching experience comprises diverse elements. In previous studies on TV watching experience, presence [1,[16][17][18][19], visual comfort [20][21][22][23][24][25][26], image quality [17,27,28], satisfaction [26], visual fatigue [26,[29][30][31], motion sickness [16], empirical 3-dimensional (3D) image distortion [21], and emotional reactions [28] were considered. User satisfaction is used to explain the overall quality of experience with visual display products.…”

“…Thus far, many TV watching experience elements have been considered: presence [16,19], visual comfort [24,26], image quality [17,28], satisfaction [26], visual fatigue [26,29], motion sickness [16,57], image distortion [21], and emotional reactions [28]. The spatial presence felt by a display user can act as a predictor for user satisfaction [58].…”

Intelligent Luminance Control of Lighting Systems Based on Imaging Sensor Feedback

“…The intelligent lighting system is not used only in the nighttime; it also can be employed as a light compensation tool to solve complex environment light source problems or uneven illumination distribution problems during the daytime. Improper lighting will decrease working efficiency [5], affect task scheduling, or even cause some accidents. For example, in our past research work it can be found that the visual fatigue and the human error rate may be increased when an astronaut participates in some aerospace flight tasks under improper environment lighting [6].…”