Technology is great, but not when it causes vertigo.
A new study presented at the latest IEEE Conference reveals how a growingly popular technology causes vertigo for many who use it.
Strangely, however, this is drastically more true for one gender than the other. This is concerning as this might be the next big thing in any type of work training.
A team of researchers from Iowa State University conducted a study to find out whether there were differences in the prevalence of vertigo in men and women as a result of using VR headsets.
In the first trial, they asked 150 people to play a VR game with a headset. This was the participants’ first time using VR, and they were allowed to end the 20-minute game early if they suffered from severe vertigo.
This is what happened.
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1. Women abandoned the game early twice as often as men did.
2. Women reported a 40% higher sickness intensity than men did.
Why are these findings important?
First, if VR technology doesn’t work for everyone, many people could be left out. This could even cause people to push back against the use of the technology altogether.
Second, VR is not just a type of technology used in gaming. It also has some potential to be used in job training for certain jobs or even in classroom education in certain subjects, which means that women cannot be excluded.
For example, it can be used to simulate medical procedures and surgeries, allowing doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to practice. It can provide realistic simulations of cockpit environments for pilot training. It can also help athletes improve their performance.
Third, it is important to find out why women suffer from extreme vertigo so that the headsets can be redesigned to exclude the problem.
Fortunately, all types of vertigo can be healed using the simple exercises explained here…