Accessible virtual reality therapy using portable media devices
- Authors: Bruck, Susan , Watters, Paul
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Annual Review of CyberTherapy and Telemedicine Vol. 8, no. 1 (2010), p. 69-72
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- Description: Simulated immersive environments displayed on large screens are a valuable therapeutic asset in the treatment of a range of psychological disorders. Permanent environments are expensive to build and maintain, require specialized clinician training and technical support and often have limited accessibility for clients. Ideally, virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) could be accessible to the broader community if we could use inexpensive hardware with specifically designed software. This study tested whether watching a handheld non-immersive media device causes nausea and other cybersickness responses. Using a repeated measure design we found that nausea, general discomfort, eyestrain, blurred vision and an increase in salivation significantly increased in response to handheld non-immersive media device exposure.
Autonomic nervous system factors underlying anxiety in virtual environments : A regression model for cybersickness
- Authors: Bruck, Susan , Watters, Paul
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at VSMM 2009 -15th International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia, Vienna : 9th-12th September 2009 p. 67-72
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- Description: The ability to predict whether people will experience anxiety is important for recruitment and selection in highly-stressful professions. Using a Virtual Reality Environment (VRE) can provide a tool to predict whether a person will experience anxiety. This paper reports several regression models which suggest observed and self-reported measures of anxiety during and after immersion in a VRE can be used to predict an individual's anxiety response to a simulated stressful environment. We found that respiration was a poor predictor of anxiety, but that cardiac activity accounted for around 39% of variance in self-reported anxiety responses using a four point scale. In contrast, responses from the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) accounted for 98% of variance in anxiety responses. However, only four out of eighteen measures in the SSQ made a significant contribution to the model. The implication for predicting an individual's anxiety responses using self-report or physiological measures is discussed. © 2009 IEEE.
Estimating cybersickness of simulated motion using the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) : A controlled study
- Authors: Bruck, Susan , Watters, Paul
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at 2009 6th International Conference on Computer Graphics, Imaging and Visualization: New Advances and Trends, CGIV2009, Tianjin : 11th - 14th August 2009 p. 486-488
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- Description: The aim of this experiment was to determine which cybersickness symptoms are associated with simulated motion, by comparing responses to the Simulated Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) between a control and experimental condition. Using non-parametric statistical tests, we found that general discomfort, fatigue, headache, eyestrain, difficulty in focusing eyes, increased sweating, nausea, difficulty in concentrating, stomach awareness and blurred vision were significantly higher in a high simulated motion task compared with a low simulated task. The implications for preventing cybersickness in virtual environments are discussed. © 2009 IEEE.
The factor structure of cybersickness
- Authors: Bruck, Susan , Watters, Paul
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Displays Vol. 32, no. 4 (2011), p. 153-158
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- Description: Cybersickness embraces a range of clinical symptoms reported in response to simulated motion in a computer generated, virtual reality environment. The Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) has been the standard tool for measuring observed responses; however, many of the observed SSQ variables are highly correlated, so it is not clear which ones are appropriate to use as a basis for building an explanatory model. In this study, responses to the SSQ were analyzed using principal components analysis, and four significant factors - general cybersickness, vision, arousal and fatigue - were identified. An initial interpretation of these factors is provided in the context of a broader cybersickness model, with a view to constructing a new questionnaire with fewer, more focused questions. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.