Individual and situational characteristics of the occurrence of cyber sickness in the context of virtually supported military training
Publication date
2025-01-08
Document type
Forschungsartikel
Author
Organisational unit
Scopus ID
Publisher
MIT Press
Series or journal
Presence: Virtual and Augmented Reality
ISSN
Periodical volume
34
First page
1
Last page
25
Peer-reviewed
✅
Part of the university bibliography
✅
Language
English
Abstract
Cyber sickness (CS) is considered a major challenge in the use of virtual reality (VR). This impacts the planned implementation of VR in the training of operational forces. The present work aimed to investigate the prevalence and onset of CS during virtually supported military training using head-mounted displays (HMDs) and explore related predictor variables. For this purpose, a quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted in which German soldiers (N = 100) were exposed to an immersive fifteen-minute VR scenario. We measured CS severity, age, heart rate (HR), and skin conductance (SC). Using newly developed categories to classify CS severity, the results showed a small prevalence (4%) of CS in the studied sample. Susceptibility to CS was the only predictor of the occurrence of CS symptoms. Accordingly, the present work provides evidence that CS may play a minor role in affecting virtually supported operational training. At the same time, the easily detectable susceptibility to CS promises rapid detection of vulnerable users. Implications and further research are discussed to detect, control, and mitigate CS.
Cite as
Ansgar J.D. Herchenröder, Thomas Jacobsen, Philipp Yorck Herzberg, Robert-Jacek Gorzka; Individual and Situational Characteristics of the Occurrence of Cyber Sickness in the Context of Virtually Supported Military Training. PRESENCE: Virtual and Augmented Reality 2025; 34 1–25. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/PRES_a_00437
Version
Published version
Access right on openHSU
Metadata only access