Augmented reality head-mounted display at-sea use causes cybersickness

Nausea and other debilitating symptoms associated with cybersickness continue to pose a significant challenge when using extended reality (xR) head-mounted displays (HMD). This study investigated if augmented reality (AR) HMD at-sea use produced cybersickness. Participants performed an observation task in AR HMD and reported their sickness at six, 5-min intervals. Results from Navy participants at sea were compared to another Navy sample and a general military sample performing the same task on land. This was done to understand if Navy personnel can better tolerate sickness than the general military sample and determine the interaction between seasickness and cybersickness. Data indicated that Navy personnel do not appear to be adapted to cybersickness. Findings also indicated that seasickness and cybersickness combined to be significantly more severe than seasickness alone. This led us to conclude that AR HMD use should be employed cautiously at sea.