The Relationship Between Age and Incidence of Cybersickness among Immersive Environment Users

Abstract

Simulator sickness - or cybersickness, as it is referred to when applied to virtual reality environments - is distinct from motion sickness in that the subject is stationary, but has a compelling sense of motion induced through exposure to changing visual imagery. Symptoms of simulator sickness are similar to those commonly experienced by subjects reporting motion sickness, thus the results of motion sickness studies tend to have application in simulator and cybersickness studies as well. However, while observing numerous visitors to their virtual environment facilities, the authors noticed a pattern of cybersickness which appeared inconsistent with the traditional understanding of motion sickness: older visitors often appeared to suffer more severe cybersickness than younger visitors. These observations contrasted sharply with traditional motion sickness studies, in which younger subjects have been found to be more prone to sickness than older subjects. The pilot study described in this poster demonstrates that indeed traditional explanations of the relationship between age and motion sickness may not hold true for cybersickness.