As an avid gamer, motion sickness has prevented me from enjoying some great games. A recent attempt to finally play the Stanley Parable resulted in the worst, longest-lasting motion sickness I have ever experienced. I use all the tricks, turning off motion blur, increasing the FOV, sitting further back, wristbands, you name it, but some games are still unplayable. A new study found that motion sickness can be prevented or alleviated with a sound.
Previous studies have shown that stimulating the inner ear with sound can assist with balance. Motion sickness is caused by the inner ear sending signals to the brain that conflict with what the rest of the body is experiencing. Building on prior research, a team from Nagoya University has published a study that found that listening to sound at a specific frequency and intensity can alleviate symptoms of motion sickness.
Mice were tested by walking on a balance beam, which sounds both adorable and a little mean. They experienced relief when exposed to a 100 Hz sound at 65.9 dBa for five minutes. When the study was expanded to human subjects, researchers found that the subjects required only one minute of exposure to the sound to achieve over two hours of relief.
According to New Atlas, the discovery's name, "sound spice," has been trademarked, which implies that the researchers expect their research to have commercial potential. Although the study does not specifically address video game-induced motion sickness, it would seem to be an ideal application.
Previously:• Using sound to reduce motion-sickness in cars
• Carmaker claims these weird-looking glasses eliminate motion sickness
• Game camera modded to show slight perspective change when turning head. Beautiful immersion or vomitous oversimulation?
