One of the early problems with virtual reality was the fact that it caused users to have motion sickness, and which nausea is part of it. However today it looks like headsets such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive appear to have done a decent job of addressing it, although they have yet to eliminate it entirely.
However we suppose at the end of the day it also boils down to how sensitive a person is, like how some people get motion sickness just from sitting in the back of a car, while others require something more vigorous. Regardless, this is an issue that needs to be addressed and it looks like Microsoft wants to do their part in helping deal with it.
Microsoft Research has come up with a cheap and easy way of dealing with nausea when using virtual reality, and that is by placing several inexpensive LEDs inside a VR headset. The LEDs act as a limiter to your field of vision, which according to Microsoft’s findings has allowed users to stay in virtual worlds longer and has delayed the onset of nausea.
According to Microsoft, “Our findings show that sparse peripheral displays are useful in conveying peripheral information and improving situational awareness, are generally preferred, and can help reduce motion sickness in nausea-susceptible people.”
Filed in . Read more about Microsoft and Virtual Reality (VR).