Postural instability according to virtual reality program

Abstract

Background: The popularity of virtual reality (VR) grew rapidly. Short guidelines with a lack of emphasis on safe use appears prior to usage. It is necessary for the user to realize how much potentially dangerous VR is.

Aims/objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of VR on balance in normal people.

Materials and methods: Mean equilibrium score (MES) of 15 adults who have normal sense of balance were obtained by using the sensory organization test (SOT). Conditions 1 and 2 were performed. Multiple VR programs were classified as three levels (Easy, Average, and Challenging) by the visual analog scale. Further SOT tests were performed during watching VR programs. MES of each test was used for statistical analysis.

Results: MES of condition 1 was significantly higher than condition 2. Although there was no statistical difference between Eye open and Easy program (p = .097), MES of average and Challenging programs showed significantly decreased scores compared to Eye open. In addition, MES of Average and Challenging programs were significantly decreased than that of Easy program.

Conclusions and significance: VR can cause postural imbalance to users. It is necessary to establish quantifiable and objective methods to measure imbalance caused by VR use.

Chinese abstract

背景：虚拟现实（VR）快速流行。在使用之前, 会显现缺乏强调使用安全的简短指南。用户有必要了解虚拟现实有多少潜在危险。

目的：本研究旨在探讨虚拟现实对正常人平衡的影响。

材料与方法：采用感官组织试验（SOT）对15例平衡感正常的成人进行平均平衡评分（MES）。进行了条件1和2的实验。根据视觉模拟量表, 将多个虚拟现实节目分为三个级别（简单、平均和高难度）。在观看虚拟现实节目期间进行了进一步的SOT测试。每项试验的MES用于统计分析。

结果：条件1的MES明显高于条件2。尽管开眼和简单节目之间没有统计学差异（p=.097）, 但与开眼节目相比, 平均的和有难度的节目的MES得分明显降低。此外, 平均节目和高难度节目的MES显著低于简易节目。

结论与意义：虚拟现实会导致使用者的姿势失衡。有必要建立可量化、客观的方法来衡量虚拟现实使用带来的失衡。

Keywords:

• Virtual reality
• postural instability
• sensory organization test
• mean equilibrium score

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.