Effects of adding visual cues on distance estimation, presence and simulator sickness during virtual visits using wall screen

Stereo and head tracking are considered as distance perception cues in virtual environments. Several studies have investigated their influence on several tasks. Results were different among studies. In this paper, we conducted a complete experiment investigating the influence of the stereo and the head tracking in the specific context of virtual visits of houses during architectural project review with clients. We manipulated the stereo and the head tracking in four conditions and we examined the effects of the two factors on distance estimations (walls size, habitability, etc.), task difficulty, presence and simulator sickness. Results revealed a significant effect of the stereo on the judgement of the habitability, the dimensions of the rooms and task difficulty. However, for both features, no significant effects were found on the presence and simulator sickness.