A Novel Way of Estimating a User’s Focus of Attention in a Virtual Environment

Results from prior experiments suggested that measuring immersion objectively (using eye trackers) can be a very important supplement to subjective tests (with questionnaires). But, traditional eye trackers are not usable together with VR HMDs (Head Mounted Displays) because they cannot “see” an audience’s eyes occluded by helmets. The eye trackers compatible with HMDs are not easily accessible to students, researchers and developers in small studios because of the high prices. This paper explores a novel way of estimating a user’s focus of attention in a virtual environment. An experiment measuring the relationship between subject’s head movement and eyesight was conducted to investigate whether eye movement can be closely approximated by head rotation. The findings suggested that people’s eyesight tended to remain in the central area of the HMD when playing a VR game and the HMD orientation data was very close to the eyesight direction. And therefore, this novel way that employs no other equipment than HMDs themselves can hopefully be used to estimate a user’s focus of attention in a much more economic and convenient manner.