Latency Detection and Illusion in a Head-Worn Virtual Environment

PubDate: May 2020

Teams: University of Mississippi

Writers: Collin Roth; Ethan Luckett; J. Adam Jones

PDF: Latency Detection and Illusion in a Head-Worn Virtual Environment

Abstract

Through the history of virtual environments research there has been significant interest in understanding how latency in a system affects a user’s experience. Though latency cannot be avoided, previous work has observed that there may be ranges within which small latencies are not discernible. However, the majority of the work examining latency detection thresholds was conducted using hardware and software that are no longer commonly used in contemporary research. In the current study, we examine whether similar latency tolerances exist for modern, off-the-shelf systems. We also look at the effect of increasing and decreasing latency on such tolerances. This revealed evidence of a “latency illusion” that presents in cases of decreasing latency resulting in subjects perceiving less latency than is actually present in the environment.