Using vibrotactile cues as a method of reducing cybersickness in younger and older adults

Cybersickness is a common sensation when using Virtual Reality (VR) technologies resulting in nausea, headache, eyestrain, and disorientation. Here, we investigated whether providing vibration cues to the user's torso can provide a multisensory VR experience that increases the sense of presence in VR while also mitigating cybersickness in younger and older adults. A total of N = 111 healthy volunteers (62 younger, 49 older) participated in this study. Participants were engaged in a VR game that passively moved them through a virtual scene. During the VR task, participants were equipped with a vibration vest including 40 actuators and were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: vibration matching the visual scene (directed vibration), vibration not matching the visual scene (undirected vibration), or no vibration at all (control group). Cybersickness was measured using the SSQ and the FMS. Overall, younger adults reported significantly more cybersickness compared to older adults. With regards to vibration, the results differed between age groups. While no differences between the vibration conditions were found for older adults, directed vibration resulted in lower cybersickness scores compared to undirected vibration in younger adults. No relationship between presence and cybersickness was found. Our results suggest that vibration cues may have a beneficial effect on cybersickness for younger adults, and it is worth further exploring how vibration may be optimized to further reduce cybersickness in VR users.