HCC: Small: Determining the Effects of Latency in Virtual Reality Physical Rehabilitation

虽然潜伏期(即系统对用户输入的响应速度)对用户的影响多年来一直是虚拟现实(VR)的基础研究领域之一，但潜伏期对肢体残疾人士的影响仍不清楚。这个项目中PI的目标是更好地了解VR中的视觉反馈延迟如何影响具有反应时间和反射缺陷(例如，由于神经、前庭、平衡问题)的用户的交互性能、知觉和主观体验，并调查这最终如何影响基于VR的康复的有效性。基于初步数据，PI的中心假设是，与健康人相比，潜伏期将不那么容易被察觉，但将对残疾人的互动表现产生更显著的影响。为了验证这一假设，PI将专注于VR康复中通常使用的主要应用程序集：游戏、锻炼和无障碍。他将为目标社区的成员探索VR康复游戏中延迟的影响，对虚拟环境(VE)中康复练习期间视觉反馈的有效性，以及VE中的可达性。通过一系列的实证研究，PI将确定VR中关于交互表现、生理反应、感知和主观印象的潜伏期阈值。更广泛的影响：项目成果将使人们更深入地了解虚拟现实作为康复媒介的有效性。如果PI的假设得到证实，基于VR的康复效果的潜在负面影响可能会扰乱公认的理论，并彻底改变这类康复的设计指南。或者，这项研究可能会启发其他研究人员开发专门针对残疾人的对抗VR中的潜伏期的方法，这也将在该领域产生进一步的垂直进步。更广泛地说，这项研究将为虚拟现实的普遍可用性这一重大挑战提供关键的一步。

Although the effect of latency (i.e., how quickly a system can respond to user input) on users has been one of the fundamental research areas in virtual reality (VR) for many years, latency's effect on persons with physical disabilities is still unknown. The PI's objective in this project is to acquire a better understanding of how latency of visual feedback in VR can impact interaction performance, perception, and subjective experience for users with reaction time and reflex deficits (e.g., due to neurological, vestibular, balance issues), and to investigate how this ultimately impacts the effectiveness of VR-based rehabilitation. The PI's central hypothesis, based on preliminary data, is that latency will be less perceivable but will have a more significant impact on interaction performance for persons with disabilities as compared to healthy persons. To test this hypothesis, the PI will focus on the main set of applications typically used in VR rehabilitation: games, exercise, and accessibility. He will explore, for members of the target community, latency's impact in VR rehabilitation games, on the effectiveness of visual feedback during rehabilitation exercises in virtual environments (VE), and on accessibility in a VE. Through a series of empirical studies, the PI will determine latency thresholds in VR with respect to interaction performance, physiological response, perception, and subjective impressions. Broader Impacts: Project outcomes will afford a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of VR as a medium for rehabilitation. If the PI's hypothesis is confirmed, the potentially negative implications for the efficacy of VR-based rehabilitation may disrupt accepted theories and revolutionize design guidelines for this type of rehabilitation. Alternatively, this research may inspire other researchers to develop approaches to combat latency in VR specifically for disabled persons, which will also produce further vertical advancement in the field. More generally, this research will provide a critical step towards the grand challenge of universal usability in VR.