TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of depth of field simulation on visual fatigue
T2 - Who are impacted? and how?
AU - Vinnikov, M.
AU - Allison, R. S.
AU - Fernandes, S.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Rida Waseem and Carly Hylton for their help in conducting some of the experimental sessions; Tonny Lay and Anna Kiseleva for their assistance in making a video demo, and Katherine Allison for the voice-over. We would like to thank NSERC Canada for the Discovery grant to Robert Allison.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PY - 2016/7
Y1 - 2016/7
N2 - While stereoscopic content can be compelling, it is not always comfortable for users to interact with on a regular basis. This is because the stereoscopic content on displays viewed at a short distance has been associated with different symptoms such as eye-strain, visual discomfort, and even nausea. Many of these symptoms have been attributed to cue conflict, for example between vergence and accommodation. To resolve those conflicts, volumetric and other displays have been proposed to improve the user's experience. However, these displays are expensive, unduly restrict viewing position, or provide poor image quality. As a result, commercial solutions are not readily available. We hypothesized that some of the discomfort and fatigue symptoms exhibited from viewing in stereoscopic displays may result from a mismatch between stereopsis and blur, rather than between sensed accommodation and vergence. To find factors that may support or disprove this claim, we built a real-time gaze-contingent system that simulates depth of field (DOF) that is associated with accommodation at the virtual depth of the point of regard (POR). Subsequently, a series of experiments evaluated the impact of DOF on people of different age groups (younger versus older adults). The difference between short duration discomfort and fatigue due to prolonged viewing was also examined. Results indicated that age may be a determining factor for a user's experience of DOF. There was also a major difference in a user's perception of viewing comfort during short-term exposure and prolonged viewing. Primarily, people did not find that the presence of DOF enhanced short-term viewing comfort, while DOF alleviated some symptoms of visual fatigue but not all.
AB - While stereoscopic content can be compelling, it is not always comfortable for users to interact with on a regular basis. This is because the stereoscopic content on displays viewed at a short distance has been associated with different symptoms such as eye-strain, visual discomfort, and even nausea. Many of these symptoms have been attributed to cue conflict, for example between vergence and accommodation. To resolve those conflicts, volumetric and other displays have been proposed to improve the user's experience. However, these displays are expensive, unduly restrict viewing position, or provide poor image quality. As a result, commercial solutions are not readily available. We hypothesized that some of the discomfort and fatigue symptoms exhibited from viewing in stereoscopic displays may result from a mismatch between stereopsis and blur, rather than between sensed accommodation and vergence. To find factors that may support or disprove this claim, we built a real-time gaze-contingent system that simulates depth of field (DOF) that is associated with accommodation at the virtual depth of the point of regard (POR). Subsequently, a series of experiments evaluated the impact of DOF on people of different age groups (younger versus older adults). The difference between short duration discomfort and fatigue due to prolonged viewing was also examined. Results indicated that age may be a determining factor for a user's experience of DOF. There was also a major difference in a user's perception of viewing comfort during short-term exposure and prolonged viewing. Primarily, people did not find that the presence of DOF enhanced short-term viewing comfort, while DOF alleviated some symptoms of visual fatigue but not all.
KW - Depth perception
KW - Depth-of-field
KW - Gaze-contingent displays
KW - User experience
KW - Visual-fatigue
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2016.03.001
DO - 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2016.03.001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84964659760
SN - 1071-5819
VL - 91
SP - 37
EP - 51
JO - International Journal of Human Computer Studies
JF - International Journal of Human Computer Studies
ER -