Redirected Tilting: Eliciting Postural Changes with a Rotational Self-Motion Illusion

• Published in: 2021 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW) pp. 178 - 182
• Main Authors: Nie, Tongyu, Suma Rosenberg, Evan
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01-03-2021
• Subjects: Computer graphics; Computing methodologies; Conferences; Cybersickness; Graphics systems and interfaces; Headphones; Human computer interaction (HCI); Human-centered computing; Interaction paradigms; Three-dimensional displays; User interfaces; Virtual environments; Virtual reality; Visualization
• DOI: 10.1109/VRW52623.2021.00040

In this paper, we propose a potential cybersickness mitigation technique, redirected tilting, and conduct an exploratory virtual reality (VR) study to determine whether it is possible to visually induce head tilt during virtual locomotion. Redirected tilting involves rotating the virtual environment (VE) towards the turning direction around the VR headset's roll axis, which we hypothesize could lead users to tilt their bodies in the same direction and maintain balance during curved paths. Unlike previous techniques, like field of view (FOV) restriction or rest frames, this method could potentially reduce cybersickness by manipulating egocentric self-motion rather than modifying visual characteristics of the VE. As an initial exploration, we conducted a within-subjects study with 30 participants to evaluate the effect of redirected tilting on postural behavior. The results showed that the proposed technique was successful in eliciting head tilt, although the magnitude of rotation was not as large as we had expected. We conclude that further investigation is needed to understand the mechanics, ideal parameters, and applications of redirected tilting.