Suitability and comparison of questionnaires assessing virtual reality-induced symptoms and effects and user experience in virtual environments

Abstract

Although virtual reality (VR) has already achieved technological maturity, there are still some significant drawbacks for technology acceptance and broader user adoption, presenting research challenges. Thus, there is a need for standard, reliable, and quick assessment tools for Virtual Reality-Induced Symptoms and Effects (VRISE) and user experience in VR Assessing VRISE and user experience could be time consuming, especially when using objective physiological measures. In this study, we have reviewed, compared, and performed a suitability assessment of existing standard measures for evaluating VRISE and user experience in VR We have developed a first-per-son VR game with different scenes and different conditions. For assessing VRISE symptoms, we have used the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) and Fast Motion Sickness Score (FMS). For assessing user experience, we have used the short version of the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ-S). We have also used a novel Virtual Reality Neuroscience Questionnaire (VRNQ) for assessing VRISE and user experience aspects. The result has shown that FMS and VRNQ (VRISE sec-tion) are suitable for quick assessment of VRISE and that VRNQ (User experience section) is suitable for assessing user experience. The advantage of FMS and VRNQ questionnaires is that they are shorter to fulfill and easier to understand. FMS also enables to record the VRISE levels during the virtual experience and thus capturing its trend over time. Another advantage of the VRNQ is that it also provides the minimum and parsimonious cut-offs to appraise the suitability of VR software, which we have confirmed in our study to be adequate.