A Critical Assessment of the Use of SSQ as a Measure of General Discomfort in VR Head-Mounted Displays

Based on a systematic literature review of more than 300 papers published over the last 10 years, we provide indicators that the simulator sickness questionnaire (SSQ) is extensively used and widely accepted as a general discomfort measure in virtual reality (VR) research – although it actually only accounts for one category of symptoms. This results in important other categories (digital eye strain (DES) and ergonomics) being largely neglected. To contribute to a more comprehensive picture of discomfort in VR head-mounted displays, we further conducted an online study (N=352) on the severity and relevance of all three symptom categories. Most importantly, our results reveal that symptoms of simulator sickness are significantly less severe and of lower prevalence than those of DES and ergonomics. In light of these findings, we critically discuss the current use of SSQ as the only discomfort measure and propose a more comprehensive factor model that also includes DES and ergonomics.