BalanceVR: VR based Balance Training to Increase Tolerance to VR Sickness

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) or cyber-sickness is a serious usability problem. Postural (or balance) instability theory has emerged as one of the primary hypotheses for the cause of VR sickness. In this paper, we conducted a two-week-long experiment to observe the trends in user balance learning and sickness tolerance under different experimental conditions to analyze the potential inter-relationship between them. The experimental results have shown, aside from the obvious improvement in balance performance itself, that accompanying balance training had a stronger effect of increasing tolerance to VR sickness than mere exposure to VR. In addition, training in VR was found to be more effective than using the 2D-based medium, especially for the transfer effect to other non-training VR content.