A review of cybersickness in head-mounted displays: raising attention to individual susceptibility

Abstract

Cybersickness still poses a significant challenge to the widespread usage of virtual reality, leading to different levels of discomfort and potentially breaking the immersive experience. Researchers have attempted to discover the possible fundamental causes of cybersickness for years. Despite the longstanding interest in the research field, inconsistent results have been drawn on the contributing factors and solutions to combating cybersickness. Moreover, little attention has been paid to individual susceptibility. A consolidated explanation remains under development, requiring more empirical studies with robust and reproducible methodologies. This review presents an integrated survey connecting the findings from previous review papers and the state of the art involving empirical studies and participants. A literature review is then presented, focusing on the practical studies of different contributing factors, the pros and cons of measurements, profiles of cybersickness, and solutions to reduce this phenomenon. Our findings suggest a lack of considerations regarding user susceptibility and gender balance in between groups studies. In addition, incongruities among empirical findings raised concerns. We conclude by suggesting points of insights for future empirical investigations.