Assessment of visual fatigue caused by stereoscopic disparity based on multimodal measurement

Given the prevalence of visual fatigue induced by stereoscopic display, research on the neural mechanism of visual fatigue was limited. The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of stereoscopic display with different horizontal disparities on visual fatigue based on subjective questionnaire, ophthalmological parameters, eye movement and electrocardiogram (ECG). Subjects felt more headache, uncomfortable and dry eyes after watching 70-minute enhanced 3D display with larger negative disparity than normal 3D display. Meanwhile, visual function tear film break-up time (TBUT) reduced, microsaccade mean pupil diameter (MMPD) increased and heart rate variability (HRV) changed more significantly after watching enhanced 3D display. Overall, these results demonstrated that enhanced 3D display had a better sense of immersion, but it induced more visual fatigue significantly than normal 3D display.