Measuring the effects of climate control on presence in natural virtual environments

Virtual Reality, or VR, is defined as a technology that allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment, whether that environment is a simulation of the real world or an imaginary world. Currently, the main focus of creating these virtual environments is through the use of computer graphics and spatial audio. However, the integration of additional thermal and wind stimuli remains underexplored. Recent research suggests that incorporating these elements can significantly increase presence, while the effects on simulator sickness remain unknown. This research aims to determine if the use of a climate control system, which creates thermal and wind stimuli, increases one's feeling of presence and reduces simulator sickness. 

This was achieved by creating a climate control system that used an ESP32 board to send commands to heaters, fans, and an air conditioner to simulate climate conditions. Additionally, a warm, desert environment and a cold, snowy environment were created using Unity 6. The experiment followed a within-subjects design where participants experienced both warm and cold environments, with and without climate control, for 5 minutes each. The evaluation was done through the Witmer and Singer Presence Questionnaire and the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire.

Results show that there is no significant difference in presence and Simulator sickness questionnaire scores across all 4 conditions, which shows that the wind and thermal stimuli might not increase presence compared to not using it. It was found that the interaction of participants' prior VR experience and the climate conditions significantly affected presence scores. This could be because of the low ambient temperature of the experiment room, which may have reduced perceived temperature differences, variations in participants’ clothing, and the climate control system taking up to 3 minutes to reach the minimum temperature.