Walk on Hands: Can Vibrations in the Hands Support Walking Experience in Virtual Reality?

Previous works have shown that vibrations under the feet can significantly enhance the walking experience in Virtual Reality (VR). However, such approaches often require specialized hardware. Therefore, in this paper, we study if vibrations in the hands could represent a simple and cost-effective alternative to improve the walking experience in VR. We conducted a user study comparing vibrations displayed in the hands, vibrations under the feet, and no vibration in a VR passive walking simulation during which participants were seated and embodied a first-person avatar. We compared the different conditions regarding: the sensation of walking, avatar embodiment, cybersickness, and comfort. Interestingly, our results show that vibrations in the hands significantly increase the sensation of walking and embodiment compared to no vibration. Moreover, no significant difference is observed between vibrations under the feet and in the hands concerning the sensation of walking. Still, embodiment is higher with vibrations under the feet. No significant differences in cybersickness or comfort were observed between vibrations displays. Overall, our results promote using vibrations in the hands as a cost-effective and suitable alternative to vibrations under the feet in VR applications for which the walking sensation is prominent, leveraging for instance vibrations embedded in VR controllers.