Virtual Reality's Impact on Phoric Posture in the Population

Background: In 2016, virtual reality (VR) became mainstream and consumer affordable with the release of the Oculus Rift, Playstation VR, and Samsung Gear VR. With new technology comes new concerns and in the field of optometry, one of these concerns is the impact that virtual reality devices could have on the development of pediatric patient’s binocular system. Since these devices come with preset interpupillary distance (PD) measurements, it can be assumed that children using these devices would not be altering the settings to match their own PD without instruction. This study examined whether or not an overestimated PD will produce measurable effects on a subject’s binocular system and whether this could have the potential to impact pediatric binocular development. Methods: This study examined 7 subjects ranging from 21-26 years old. The subject’s near phoria was measured before 20 minutes of VR play with the correct PD. Then the near phoria was measured again after playing. This was repeated with the PD set larger than our subjects’ PD (10 mm larger). Subjects were alternated with whether they played with an appropriate PD or larger PD first. Following both VR sessions, subjects were then given a symptom survey where a score was calculated based on what symptoms they experienced while playing. Results: The results of the study determined that an incorrect interpupillary distance of 10 mm did not provide a statistical significance for an affect on the subject’s near phoria with a p-value of 0.3296. The high p-value supports the null hypothesis that an incorrect PD of 10 mm will not cause an individual’s phoric posture to become significantly more exophoric than with the correct PD. Conclusions: The clinical significance of this project could be widespread for clinicians, as well as patients. What the results have shown is that no statistical significance can be observed between playing with a correct PD or incorrect PD. Symptom survey results showed the exactly the same amount of symptoms displayed between the two groups.