Edited by Jonathan Chan CY & Lindsy Long
While the popularity of virtual reality technology has been trending upwards since the past few years, experts have indicated its potential harm to the eyes and brain.
“With virtual reality, our eyes always focus on a fixed point while trying to converge or diverge toward objects that can appear either nearby or distant,” said Professor Martin S. Banks. “This mismatch is known as the vergence-accommodation conflict, which explains why people experience visual discomfort.”
Google Cardboard, a VR headset created by Google, had more than five million shipped up till January 27 this year, and was listed as one of the best 25 inventions of 2015 by Time Magazine.
“The lowest-tech gadget with ingredients of about half a pizza box worth of cardboard, two magnets, two lenses and a single rubber band.” This is how the Time Magazine described the Cardboard, which is made of inexpensive household items. “Pop in a smartphone loaded with the right apps, and Cardboard becomes a VR viewer.”
Chief operations & sales scientist Petros Dertsakyan at Knoxlabs Inc, a Google-certified Cardboard manufacturer, said Cardboard allows viewers to have complete immersive feelings with things and environment they could not experience otherwise.
“There will not be any eye damage, but a little tiredness if using longer than ten minutes without rest. We have not received complaints so far,” said Mr Dertsakyan. “We will promote Cardboard in Hong Kong.”
However, according to Martin S. Banks, professor of optometry, vision science, psychology and neuroscience at University of California, Berkeley, it is not easy for the eyes and brain to adapt to the new technology.
“We believe the brain has to deviate from its normal coupling to fight against the vergence-accommodation conflict,” he said. “This not only leads to tiredness of eyes, but also makes people experience nausea or headache in some cases.”
Oculus, an American virtual reality technology company that produces Oculus Rift, argues the technology causes very little eye strain.
“With the Oculus Rift, your eyes are actually focused and converged in the distance at all times, which is a natural position of rest for your eyes,” according to the company.
Executive marketing director Sonia Schechter at Marxent Labs, an American company that develops mobile VR applications, suggested VR should be used in moderation until more is known about the effects of intensive, long-term use.
“The VR experiences we create are minutes long instead of hours or days long, which will not cause damages to the eyes,” she said.
Although virtual reality experience might cause certain discomfort, Professor Banks said it only applies in a short-term period.
“What we don’t know is the intensive use, 12 hours a day for example, would that have any long-term effect? I doubt it, but I cannot prove that to you at the moment,” Professor Banks said.
Betty Wong, Google’s Communications Manager, declined to comment, asking us to refer to the company’s website about Cardboard for information.
Lam Ka Sing, Alfred IJ 