Dr. Jungmin Han and Prof. Suk presented a work entitled, “Comparison of Visual Discomfort and Visual Fatigue between Head-Mounted Display and Smartphone” at the IS&T International Symposium on Electronic Imaging (EI 2017) in Burlingame, California. The study provides evidence that HMD causes more dry eye symptoms compared to smartphones. In the study, clinical data are provided through a collaboration with Dr. Seon Hee Bae from the Hansol Eye Clinic.

Abstract

With the rapid development of Head-Mounted Display (HMD), the problem of visual discomfort caused by watching Virtual Reality (VR) contents became a crucial concern for consumers and manufacturers. Previous research on visual discomfort has mostly relied on subjective assessment methods, which inevitably raised the issue of ambiguity. While subjective human factors are also important in analyzing visual discomfort, objective assessment methods for the evaluation is needed to observe physiological change. In this regard, the study conducted both subjective and objective measure of visual discomfort caused by watching HMD and smartphones. Participants answered Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) and went through three eye screenings to measure tear break-up time, spherical equivalent, and contrast sensitivity. Experimental results show that HMD causes more dry eye symptoms compared to smartphones.