Effects of VR-Displays on Visual Acuity

Information

• Publication Type: Bachelor Thesis
• Workgroup(s)/Project(s):
  • Rendering and Modeling
• Date: November 2019
• Date (Start): April 2019
• Date (End): November 2019
• Matrikelnummer: 01527648
• First Supervisor: Katharina Krösl
• Keywords: virtual reality, visual acuity

Abstract

The perceived visual acuity (VA) of people in virtual reality (VR), using a head-mounted display (HMD), is not equal to their VA in the real world. The reason for this difference is the reduction of visual acuity in the virtual environment that is caused by various factors, such as the low resolution of the VR display. Based on those circumstances, the capacity of an individual to distinguish small details diminishes visibly. Previous studies regarding eyesight in VR have already verified how the best visual resolution in virtual environments is always lower than the natural vision and therefore this aspect could be seen as a mild vision impairment for the users of an HMD. The goal of this project is to investigate how much the VA is reduced in VR and respectively whether the decrease of VA in VR is perceived similar by everyone or if visual impairments like Myopia, influence the visual perception. Based on a previous project, two different tests were implemented with the game engine Unreal Engine 4, a VR version for which an HTC VIVE headset was used, along with a desktop version. These tests were used to investigate the VA of the participant in a user study and the results have been compared to each other in order to find the extent to which visual impairments have an impact on VA.

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BibTeX

@bachelorsthesis{panfili-2019-VAVR,
  title =      "Effects of VR-Displays on Visual Acuity",
  author =     "Lara Panfili",
  year =       "2019",
  abstract =   "The perceived visual acuity (VA) of people in virtual
               reality (VR), using a head-mounted display (HMD), is not
               equal to their VA in the real world. The reason for this
               difference is the reduction of visual acuity in the virtual
               environment that is caused by various factors, such as the
               low resolution of the VR display. Based on those
               circumstances, the capacity of an individual to distinguish
               small details diminishes visibly. Previous studies regarding
               eyesight in VR have already verified how the best visual
               resolution in virtual environments is always lower than the
               natural vision and therefore this aspect could be seen as a
               mild vision impairment for the users of an HMD. The goal of
               this project is to investigate how much the VA is reduced in
               VR and respectively whether the decrease of VA in VR is
               perceived similar by everyone or if visual impairments like
               Myopia, influence the visual perception. Based on a previous
               project, two different tests were implemented with the game
               engine Unreal Engine 4, a VR version for which an HTC VIVE
               headset was used, along with a desktop version. These tests
               were used to investigate the VA of the participant in a user
               study and the results have been compared to each other in
               order to find the extent to which visual impairments have an
               impact on VA. ",
  month =      nov,
  address =    "Favoritenstrasse 9-11/E193-02, A-1040 Vienna, Austria",
  school =     "Research Unit of Computer Graphics, Institute of Visual
               Computing and Human-Centered Technology, Faculty of
               Informatics, TU Wien ",
  keywords =   "virtual reality, visual acuity",
  URL =        "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2019/panfili-2019-VAVR/",
}