Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation / 2011

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“An informal look into its suitability for HCI”

To investigate the effects of head-movement dependent GVS on daily activities, a device is constructed that, based on the head orientation of the user, will output low current electrical pulses to alter once balance. The current makes people fall to the left or right involuntarily. Making this current dependent on the head-movement can improve balance performance or give the illusion of being in a different medium (e.g. under water, outer space).

ABSTRACT
The human vestibular system has been extensively studied using Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (GVS). Most experiments focus on vestibular disorders and use confined tests in a laboratory environment. The present study focuses on the effect of vestibular stimulation in every day life and its suitability as an HCI technology. In contrast to other experiments the present study uses a GVS device which is dependent on the head movement of the test subject. Effects of various GVS schemes (both correlated and uncorrelated to head-movement) on several everyday activities are investigated. The experiments yield very interesting results, which provide incentives for further experiments to accumulate more evidence.

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