JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Many young adults do not reach the minimum recommendation for the amount of physical activity. VR 3DHMD (virtual reality 3-dimensional head mounted display) exergame is a technology which is more immersive than typically exercise session.. Scientific study points to gender differences on the one hand in physical activity and on the other hand in perceiving VR.

Objective:

The aim of the study was gender differences effects of the VR 3DHMD game in terms of the level of immersion, simulator sickness, heart rate (HR), breathing rate (BR), energy expenditure (EE) during two 30-minute sessions of users playing an exercise game of increasing intensity (HR↑, BR↑, EE↑).

Methods:

To examine the effects of the VR 3DHMD exergame, we performed experiment for 45 participants (23 male and 22 female) exercised with VR 3DHMD Oculus Quest 1, hand controllers and Zephyr Bioharness 3 sensor. Players exercised according to the Audio Trip exergame. In addition to the simulator sickness we checked immersion and monitoring the HR A (average), HR M (maximum), BR A (average), BR M (maximum) and EE during two 30-minute sessions of increasing intensity (HR↑, BR↑, EE↑).

Results:

Audio Trip was well tolerated, as there were no dropouts due to simulator sickness. After two 30-minute sessions, there was gender differences in simulator sickness (F2,86=3.33; P= .04) and was no gender differences in level of immersion (F1, 43=0.02, P= .90); however, after first 30-minute session all participants showed no significant change compared to pre measurements according to SSQ Total and the Immersion Questionnaire results. A significant gender difference appeared in the BR A (INTER measurement F1,43=5.28, P= .03; POST measurement F1,43=7,98, P= .01), BR M (POST measurement F1,43=7,63, P= .01) and EE (INTER measurement F1,43=10.15, P= 0.002; POST measurement F1,43=8.59, P= .01) measurements according to two 30-minute sessions. No gender differences appeared in the HR A, HR M measurements according to two 30-minute sessions.

Conclusions:

Study showed that 30-minute session is a non-simulator sickness and very immersive type of exercise for men and women users. It gives the opportunity to reach the minimum recommendation for the amount of physical activity. Completing the second session resulted in simulator sickness in both groups, more noticeably in women, because gender differences appeared in simulator sickness feeling. Gender differences appeared in the BR and EE measurements, and that information can be helpful when programming VR exergame intensity in further research. Clinical Trial: Respective ethical committees granted ethical approvals for this study (decision no. 32/20).