Cybersickness Prevention and Mitigation in Virtual Reality for Healthy Volunteers

NCT06552754 | Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: 10001975001975-HG
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 150
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 2

Brief Summary

Background: People use virtual reality (VR) technology to play games, socialize, work, or receive medical care. Some people have "cybersickness" after using VR. Cybersickness is similar to motion sickness. Symptoms include eye strain, nausea, dizziness, or headache. The symptoms are usually mild and go away after the person stops using VR. New software called Motion Reset is being designed to reduce symptoms of cybersickness during VR use. Objective: To see if Motion Reset software can reduce cybersickness in people using VR. Eligibility: Healthy adults aged 18 to 60 years. Design: Participants will have 1 clinic visit that will last about 1 hour. They will answer questions about how they are feeling. They will learn how to use the VR headset and the handheld game controllers. The study will be broken into 2 parts. For the first part, participants will be assigned to 1 of 3 groups: Group 1 will participate in a VR experience designed to prevent cybersickness. They will view screens and move around while they press buttons on a controller. Group 2 will participate in a VR experience that is not designed to prevent cybersickness. They will view screens and move around while they press buttons on a controller. Group 3 will have no VR experience. Participants will complete 2 questionnaires about their experiences in the first part of the study. For the second part, all participants will spend up to 20 minutes playing a commercial VR game called Jurassic World Aftermath. Every few minutes, they will be asked if they are experiencing discomfort. After playing the game, participants will complete 12 questionnaires about their experience....

Conditions

Healthy Volunteers; Virtual Reality

Keywords

Healthy Volunteers; Virtual Reality; cybersickness

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• self-reported cybersickness

  Assessed on numerical scale

  during and after VR use

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• discontinuation of VR use

  during VR use

Study Arms (3)

Intervention: Motion Reset

EXPERIMENTAL

Participate in virtual reality activities

Behavioral: Motion Reset

No intervention

NO INTERVENTION

Placebo experience

PLACEBO COMPARATOR

Participate in virtual reality activities

Behavioral: Placebo

Interventions

Motion Reset BEHAVIORAL

virtual reality-based experiential, sensory intervention

Intervention: Motion Reset

Placebo BEHAVIORAL

virtual reality-based experiential, sensory experience without intervention

Placebo experience

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 60 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• In order to be eligible to participate in this study, an individual must meet all of the following criteria:
• Provision of signed and dated informed consent form
• Stated willingness to comply with all study procedures and availability for the duration of the study
• Aged 18-60
• Ability to read, speak, and write in English
• Normal or corrected-to-normal hearing
• Normal vision or corrected-to-normal without use of glasses. Contact lenses for corrective purposes are acceptable.
• Ability to read, speak and write in English is a requirement because the VR-based study materials and assessment are only available in English and several of the key questionnaires for the study are not validated in other languages.

You may not qualify if:

• An individual who meets any of the following criteria will be excluded from participation in this study:
• Reporting motion sickness propensity of 0, 9 or 10 on a 0-10 scale where 0 =never experience motion sickness and 10 = experience motion sickness very frequently (self-assessed by participants).
• Reporting a history of photo-sensitive seizure disorders, vestibular disorders and/or other conditions that may make participants prone to nausea, dizziness, vertigo, ataxia, or incoordination.
• Known pregnancy
• Reporting current use of medication or supplements that inhibit nausea, e.g., Zofran/ondansetron, Phenergan/promethazine

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI): lead

Study Sites (2)

Iowa State University

Ames, Iowa, 50011, United States

RECRUITING

National Institutes of Health Clinical Center

Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States

RECRUITING

Related Links

• NIH Clinical Center Detailed Web Page

Study Officials

• Susan J Persky, Ph.D.

  National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Susan J Persky, Ph.D.

CONTACT

(301) 451-1268; NihVRStudy@nih.gov

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: NIH
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 9, 2024
• First Posted: August 14, 2024
• Study Start: September 26, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2026
• Last Updated: April 28, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-04-24

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (2)