Background: Falls due to postural instability are common in construction environments especially from a height. The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of virtual reality (VR)-generated environments at different virtual heights on postural stability.
Methods: Nineteen adults were analyzed for postural stability, tested in real (No VR) environment and in three VR environments, randomly assigned, at virtual heights of 0 ft. (VR0), 40 ft. (VR40), and 120 ft. (VR120). Postural stability was quantified using center of pressure postural sway variables and analyzed using a repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Participants also completed a simulation sickness questionnaire (SSQ) before and after VR exposure and a presence questionnaire (PQ) after VR exposure.
Findings: Significant postural instability (p < .05) was identified between VR and No VR, in which increased postural instability was evident in all VR conditions compared with No VR. Scores from SSQ were within a pre-post score difference of five and the PQ score was (104.21 ± 14.03).
Conclusion/application to practice: Findings suggest that VR environments, regardless of virtual height, induced increased postural instability, which can be attributed to visual sensory conflicts to the postural control system created by VR exposure. Participants' subjective responses on SSQ and PQ confirmed the feasibility of using VR to represent realistic immersions in virtual heights. However, objectively, VR could potentially lead to postural instability, stressing caution. VR can be a potential tool for providing virtual high-altitude environment exposure for fall prevention training, however, more research is needed on postural adaptation with acute and chronic exposure to VR.
Keywords: construction; falls; height; high altitude; postural stability; virtual reality.