Applying latency to half of a self-avatar's body to change real walking patterns

Latency (i.e., time delay) in a Virtual Environment is known to disrupt user performance, presence and induce simulator sickness. However, can we utilize the effects caused by experiencing latency to benefit virtual rehabilitation technologies? We investigate this question by conducting an experiment that is aimed at altering gait by introducing latency applied to one side of a self-avatar with a front-facing mirror. This work was motivated by previous findings where participants altered their gait with increasing latency, even when participants failed to notice considerably high latencies as 150ms or 225ms. In this paper, we present the results of a study that applies this novel technique to average healthy persons (i.e., to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach before applying it to persons with disabilities). The results indicate a tendency to create asymmetric gait in persons with symmetric gait when latency is applied to one side of their self-avatar. Thus, the study shows the potential of applying one-sided latency in a self-avatar, which could be used to develop asymmetric gait rehabilitation techniques.