A questionnaire-based and physiology-inspired quality of experience evaluation of an immersive multisensory wheelchair simulator

Immersive multimedia technologies such as virtual reality (VR) are now finding potential applications in domains outside of entertainment and gaming in areas such as health, education, and tourism, to name a few. This article presents a Quality of Experience (QoE) evaluation of an immersive haptic-based VR wheelchair simulator. The paper presents the results of an explicit and implicit (physiology-based) QoE evaluation of the Immersive Simulator in three different configurations: (a) desktop group (non-immersive); (b) headset 1 group (immersive with a high rate of motion acceleration); and (c) headset 2 group (immersive with a lower rate of motion acceleration). As part of the user evaluations, participants in each of the groups completed several questionnaires, including: an emotion questionnaire (SAM), cognitive task load (NASA-TLX), user expectations usability (SUS), and presence (IPQ). In addition, during the experience, physiological responses such as electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate variability (HRV) were recorded. The self-reported findings suggest that both headset groups had higher usability and presence levels than the desktop group. The two headset groups also had greater pleasant and exciting emotions than the desktop group. The NASA-TLX findings indicate that the headset 1 group presented the highest task cognitive load. The performance evaluation shows that both headset groups had a better results than the desktop group in terms of task completion.