This article is part of a series on Cybersickness, edited by Tohru Kiryu, Richard HY So.

Editorial

Sensation of presence and cybersickness in applications of virtual reality for advanced rehabilitation

Tohru Kiryu¹ and Richard HY So²

¹  Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan

²  Department of Industrial Engineering and Logistics Management, Hon Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, PR China

author email corresponding author email

Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation 2007, 4:34doi:10.1186/1743-0003-4-34

Published:	25 September 2007

Abstract

Around three years ago, in the special issue on augmented and virtual reality in rehabilitation, the topics of simulator sickness was briefly discussed in relation to vestibular rehabilitation. Simulator sickness with virtual reality applications have also been referred to as visually induced motion sickness or cybersickness. Recently, study on cybersickness has been reported in entertainment, training, game, and medical environment in several journals. Virtual stimuli can enlarge sensation of presence, but they sometimes also evoke unpleasant sensation. In order to safely apply augmented and virtual reality for long-term rehabilitation treatment, sensation of presence and cybersickness should be appropriately controlled. This issue presents the results of five studies conducted to evaluate visually-induced effects and speculate influences of virtual rehabilitation. In particular, the influence of visual and vestibular stimuli on cardiovascular responses are reported in terms of academic contribution.