Human Factor Considerations in Virtual Reality: Adequate or Inadequate?

Despite the continued progress in human factor (HF) considerations in virtual reality (VR), health and safety issues persist in VR applications, especially in fully immersive VR. This article reviews those issues and the recent developments to address them and discusses the adequacy of current HF considerations in VR. The four types of realities are first defined: reality, augmented reality, augmented virtual reality, and virtual reality (non-immersive, semi-immersive, and fully immersive). A brief review of the general VR applications (arts, community services, engineering, and others) is presented, followed by a more detailed review of engineering applications (industry, research, and education and training). Notable general HF issues in immersive VR are discussed, including cybersickness, hygiene, immersion injuries, and repetitive strain injuries. Manufacturer support in addressing various health and safety issues, such as in-use symptoms, post-use symptoms, repetitive strain injuries, and system alerts is highlighted. An in-depth review of the research issues related to VR is presented. Based on this study, it is concluded that significant efforts by researchers and manufacturers are still needed to address several HF issues in VR.