Assessment of consumer VR-headsets’ objective and subjective field of view (FoV) and its feasibility for visual field testing

Abstract

Virtual reality as a research environment has seen a boost in its popularity during the last decades. Not only the usage fields for this technology have broadened, but also a research niche has appeared as the hardware improved and became more affordable. Experiments in vision research are constructed upon the basis of accurately displaying stimuli with a specific position and size. For classical screen setups, viewing distance and pixel position on the screen define the perceived position for subjects in a relatively precise fashion. However, projection fidelity in HMDs strongly depends on eye and face physiological parameters. This study introduces an inexpensive method to measure the perceived field of view and its dependence upon the eye position and the interpupillary distance, using a super wide angle camera. Measurements of multiple consumer VR headsets show that manufacturers’ claims regarding field of view of their HMDs are mostly unrealistic. Additionally, we performed a “Goldmann” perimetry test in VR to obtain subjective results as a validation of the objective camera measurements. Based on this novel data, the applicability of these devices to test humans’ field of view was evaluated.

Reflexive Saccades Used for Objective and Automated Measurements of Contrast Sensitivity in Selected Areas of Visual Field

“… 5 for optokinetic nystagmus-based CS examinations. Although there are some considerable technical limitations, as for instance the eye-tracking latency 43 or its quality, 44 the VR headsets provide a bigger field of view for possible testing of larger eccentricities, 45 compared to our setup. Testing further eccentricities would be useful in the early detection of several eye diseases such as glaucoma.…”

Eye tracking in virtual reality: Vive pro eye spatial accuracy, precision, and calibration reliability

“…This headset has a display resolution of 1440 1600 pixels per eye, 90 Hz refresh rate and a FOV of 110° as stated by the manufacturer. Recent work by Sauer et al ( 47 ) found the official FOV specifications for most VR headsets to be overstated and reports the effective FOV of the Vive Pro Eye at 94° horizontally. The HMD is equipped with an eye tracking system running at 120 Hz sampling rate and reported to achieve a spatial accuracy of 0.5° - 1.1° ( 25 ).…”

Application of Spatial Cues and Optical Distortions as Augmentations during Virtual Reality (VR) Gaming: The Multifaceted Effects of Assistance for Eccentric Viewing Training

“…The headset has an integrated eye tracker with a sampling frequency of 120 Hz and a known latency between 58 ms and 80 ms [ 38 , 39 ]. The HMD has two AMOLED screens, each with a resolution of 1.440 × 1.600 pixels, meaning a pixel density of 615 pixels per inch (PPI) for each eye, a field of view of 94 × 91 (horizontally per vertically) [ 40 ], a luminance of 116.1 cd m −2 [ 40 ] and a refresh rate of 90 Hz. The Tobii Pro SDK v1.7.1.1081 [ 41 ] was used to save the eye-tracking data.…”