Exploring the feasibility of mitigating VR-HMD-induced cybersickness using cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation

Abstract

Many head-mounted virtual reality display (VR-HMD) applications that involve moving visual environments (e.g., virtual rollercoaster, car and airplane driving) will trigger cybersickness (CS). Previous research Arshad et al. (2015) has explored the inhibitory effect of cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on vestibular cortical excitability, applied to traditional motion sickness (MS), however its applicability to CS, as typically experienced in immersive VR, remains unknown. The presented double-blinded 2x2x3 mixed design experiment (independent variables: stimulation condition [cathodal/anodal]; timing of VR stimulus exposure [before/after tDCS]; sickness scenario [slight symptoms onset/moderate symptoms onset/recovery]) aims to investigate whether the tDCS protocol adapted from Arshad et al. ( 2015) is effective at delaying the onset of CS symptoms and/or accelerating recovery from them in healthy participants. Quantitative analysis revealed that the cathodal tDCS indeed delayed the onset of slight symptoms if compared to that in anodal condition. However, there are no significant differences in delaying the onset of moderate symptoms nor shortening time to recovery between the two stimulation types. Possible reasons for present findings are discussed and suggestions for future studies are proposed.

Multimodal Biosensing for Vestibular Network-Based Cybersickness Detection

“…Similar to tunnel travel, the movement speed of the rollercoaster was increased by 20% in the second time window if the same FMS score was reported in consecutive 2-min periods. This rollercoaster application has been shown to induce moderate CS symptoms in young adults in our previous study [37].…”

“…3) The Cognitive Task (post-moderate CS): According to our previous study in which the time of self-reported full recovery from moderate CS symptoms was less than 5 min [37], we hypothesized that the cognitive domain could be back to being the predominant element in the second cognitive task after the end of moderate CS induction and the 7-min relaxation (2-min break plus 5-min eye-closed baseline session). Indeed, this hypothesis can be verified from the self-reported CS ratings (as explained in Results A).…”

“…But, some meaningful qualitative comparisons still can be made for other aspects: 1) Ground truth: we found two studies that used the same ground truth, FMS with 1-min time resolution [6], [7], but other studies just asked the participants to self-report their scores if they felt CS [5], [16], [57]. Thus, the time window of CS ratings was randomized which could lead to data being missed according to our previous experience [37]. 2) Data reliability: some consumer EEG devices were used to collect EEG data [16], [58].…”

Workshop on Multimodal Motion Sickness Detection and Mitigation Methods for Car Journeys

“…At the same time, passenger-centric methods involve presenting additional sensory input (e.g., visual input through a virtual reality (VR) headset or a displays placed in the car interior) [5,7,26], or administering neurostimulation to the passenger (e.g. TMS, tES or tDCs [24]). The validation of both has been explored using different experimental setups.…”

“…The validation of both has been explored using different experimental setups. From motion platforms [21,24] and simulators [2,14,37] to on road studies using the Wizard of Oz method [1,5,26,36] or AVs [15].…”