JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

With the influx of medical virtual reality (VR) technologies, cybersickness has transitioned from a nuisance experienced during leisure activities to a potential safety and efficacy concern for patients and clinicians. To improve health equity, it is important to understand any potential underlying differences in cybersickness propensity between demographic groups, including racial groups.

Objective:

To explore whether cybersickness reporting differs across racial groups.

Methods:

We collected self-reported cybersickness ratings from six racially diverse independent samples within one laboratory group (total N = 931). In these studies, participants were asked to perform tasks in VR such as traversing environments, pointing at and selecting objects, and interacting with virtual humans.

Results:

Significant racial differences in cybersickness were found in 3 out of 6 studies. A mini meta-analysis revealed that, on average, Black participants approximately a third of a standard deviation less cybersickness than White participants, regardless of the nature of the VR experience. No overall differences between Asian and White participants’ reported cybersickness were found.

Conclusions:

The existence of racial differences in cybersickness indicates that researchers, practitioners, and regulators should evaluate VR health intervention outcomes by patient demographics. These findings provide a context for future studies that may explore racial differences in cybersickness directly.