Manipulating the Orientation of Planar 2D Content in VR as an Implicit Visual Cue for Mitigating Passenger Motion Sickness

The use of Virtual Reality technology in vehicles is poised to bring about a new era of transport experiences, but its use can cause or enhance motion sickness. However, with careful design, VR devices have the potential to mitigate motion sickness and provide immersive experiences while travelling. We propose a novel implicit motion cue for manipulating a virtual display presented in Virtual and Extended Reality. Our design mitigates motion sickness by providing awareness of physical orientation changes through changes in the visual orientation of the virtual planar content. We performed two experiments on a rotating chair, testing mitigation properties of different levels of rotational gain applied to the display. Our results showed that the technique significantly reduced motion sickness, without negatively affecting task performance. Our findings show that we can subtly interleave motion cues in existing spatial content like planar displays and this can contribute to lessening motion sickness experienced.