From: ehjv69@festival.ed.ac.uk (J Hill)
Subject: SCI: Independent on Sunday report on VR
Organization: Edinburgh University
Keywords: Sega, Eye damage, UK

The following is article was printed on the Front Page (!) of the
Independent on Sunday, accompanied by a 6"x9" photo of someone using a
VIRTUALITY hmd.

"Sega game could cause eye damage - By Steve Connor and Susan Watts

A new toy that allows children to play computer video games in
'virtual reality' could permanently damage their eyesight.

The equipment - a headset which beams stereoscopic images on to both
eyes - is already in use in such hi-tech amusement arcades as London's
Trocadero. Sega, the Japanese computer games company, intends to
launch a home version in the United States later this year, and in
Europe next year.

Tests of virtual reality headsets on adults produced visual problems
which scientists believe could be far more serious in young children.
One fear is that the toys could lead to permanent squints.

Two groups of researchers, one at Edinburgh University and one in the
Ministry of Defense, have detected side-effects in adult volunteers
who wear the 'head-mounted displays', which produce an illusion of
reality by giving all-round, three-dimensional vision of moving
objects. Such equipment is already used by the military and by
commercial designers who want to see their work in three dimensions.

The Health and Safety Executive has set up an investigation of the
headsets because of fears raised by a research team led by John Wann,
a lecturer in human perception at Edinburgh. 'Our results suggests it
seems particularly unwise to introduce them as a toy for children,' Dr
Wann said. 'If they are spending more than a few minutes with these
headsets, there are serious considerations for their eyesight.'

Mark Mon-Williams, an optometrist, said that people who used the
headsets for 10 minutes showed similar visual disturbances to those
who spend eight hours at a computer screen. 'It's amazing what you are
asking your eyes to do inside the headset,' he said.

Of 20 young adults who took part in a 10-minutes test, 12 experienced
side-effects such as headaches, nausea and blurred vision. Mr
Mon-Williams said that a particular concern is that the headset puts a
lot of strain on binocular vision, which is fully developed in adults
but is more liable to break down under stress in children under 12
years, causing squints.

The Edinburgh findings are supported by researchers at the Army
Personnel Research Establishment at Farnborough, Hampshire. In a test,
61 per cent of 150 volunteers reported symptoms such as dizziness,
headaches, eyestrain, light-headedness and severe nausea.

Mr Mon-Williams said the main problem stems from the headsets severely
straining the eye muscles, leading to slightly cross-eyed vision. A
slight misalignment of the two images in each eye produces a visual
disparity that the muscles try to correct.

Andrew Wright, software product manager for Sega in Britain, said that
the new product would be tested extensively before coming on the
market.

Other health problems associated with virtual reality are beginning to
emerge: a form of travel sickness is affecting people who spend too
long in virtual environments. Symptoms such as nausea and
disorientation are brought on by the slight time-lag between people
moving their head and the scene they are immersed in 'catching up'."

_______________________________

I would say that Sega and the rest of the VR games manufacturers have
some PR work to do. I will watch the Independent for any responses to
this article.

J. Hill

Note: My affiliations with the University of Edinburgh are totally
unrelated to those of the research team cited in the article.