skip to main content
10.1145/3641825.3689504acmconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PagesvrstConference Proceedingsconference-collections
abstract

Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment in Virtual Reality Exergaming to Regulate Exertion Levels via Heart Rate Monitoring

Published: 09 October 2024 Publication History

Abstract

By regulating exertion levels, Dynamic difficulty adjustment (DDA) has the potential to enhance user experience and optimize exercise in Virtual Reality (VR) exergames. This pilot study assesses the effectiveness of adjusting the difficulty of gameplay challenges based on heart rate (HR) data to control the intensity of physical activity in VR exergaming. Observational results from 13 participants indicate that the HR-based DDA more effectively maintained target heart rate zones compared to randomized adjustments. Improved perceived exertion, and increased enjoyment underlines the potential of this approach for VR-based exercise and rehabilitation programs.

References

[1]
Dirk Büsch, Till Utesch, and Franz Marschall. 2022. Entwicklung und Evaluation der Anstrengungsskala Sport. German Journal of Exercise and Sport Research 52 (2022).
[2]
Cora Craig, Alison Marshall, Michael Sjostrom, Adrian Bauman, Michael Booth, Barbara Ainsworth, Michael Pratt, Ulf Ekelund, Agneta Yngve, James Sallis, and Pekka Oja. 2003. International Physical Activity Questionnaire: 12-Country Reliability and Validity. Medicine and science in sports and exercise 35 (2003).
[3]
Ann-Katrin Grotle, Vaughan G. Macefield, William B. Farquhar, Donal S. O’Leary, and Audrey J. Stone. 2020. Recent advances in exercise pressor reflex function in health and disease. Autonomic neuroscience : basic & clinical 228 (2020).
[4]
Tobias Huber, Silvan Mertes, Stanislava Rangelova, Simon Flutura, and Elisabeth Andre. 2021. Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment in Virtual Reality Exergames through Experience-driven Procedural Content Generation. In 2021 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (SSCI). IEEE.
[5]
Lucie Kruse, Sukran Karaosmanoglu, Sebastian Rings, and Frank Steinicke. 2022. Evaluating Difficulty Adjustments in a VR Exergame for Younger and Older Adults: Transferabilities and Differences. In Proceedings of the 2022 ACM Symposium on Spatial User Interaction (Online, CA, USA). ACM, New York, USA.
[6]
Lucas Küntzer, Sandra U. Schwab, Heike Spaderna, and Georg Rock. 2024. ROVER: A Standalone Overlay Tool for Questionnaires in Virtual Reality. In Companion Proceedings of the 16th ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems (Cagliari,Italy). ACM, New York, USA.
[7]
Aoran Li, Ian Chai, and Kok-Why Ng. 2023. Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment in Video Games for Encouraging Physical Exercise: A Review and Theoretical Framework. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Creative Multimedia 2023 (ICCM 2023). Atlantis Press.
[8]
James W. Navalta, Dustin W. Davis, Elias M. Malek, Bryson Carrier, Nathaniel G. Bodell, Jacob W. Manning, Jeffrey Cowley, Merrill Funk, Marcus M. Lawrence, and Mark DeBeliso. 2023. Heart rate processing algorithms and exercise duration on reliability and validity decisions in biceps-worn Polar Verity Sense and OH1 wearables. Scientific Reports 13 (2023).
[9]
American College of Sports Medicine 2013. ACSM’s guidelines for exercise testing and prescription. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Index Terms

  1. Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment in Virtual Reality Exergaming to Regulate Exertion Levels via Heart Rate Monitoring

      Recommendations

      Comments

      Information & Contributors

      Information

      Published In

      cover image ACM Conferences
      VRST '24: Proceedings of the 30th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology
      October 2024
      633 pages
      ISBN:9798400705359
      DOI:10.1145/3641825
      Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

      Sponsors

      Publisher

      Association for Computing Machinery

      New York, NY, United States

      Publication History

      Published: 09 October 2024

      Check for updates

      Author Tags

      1. dynamic difficulty adjustment
      2. heart rate
      3. virtual reality exergames

      Qualifiers

      • Abstract
      • Research
      • Refereed limited

      Conference

      VRST '24

      Acceptance Rates

      Overall Acceptance Rate 66 of 254 submissions, 26%

      Contributors

      Other Metrics

      Bibliometrics & Citations

      Bibliometrics

      Article Metrics

      • 0
        Total Citations
      • 60
        Total Downloads
      • Downloads (Last 12 months)60
      • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)12
      Reflects downloads up to 16 Feb 2025

      Other Metrics

      Citations

      View Options

      Login options

      View options

      PDF

      View or Download as a PDF file.

      PDF

      eReader

      View online with eReader.

      eReader

      HTML Format

      View this article in HTML Format.

      HTML Format

      Figures

      Tables

      Media

      Share

      Share

      Share this Publication link

      Share on social media