Concern of Photosensitive Seizures Evoked by 3D Video Displays or Virtual Reality Headsets in Children: Current Perspective

Lawrence Tychsen, Liu Lin Thio, Lawrence Tychsen, Liu Lin Thio

Abstract

This review assesses the risk of a photic-induced seizure in a child during viewing of 3D (binocular 3 dimensional, stereoscopic) movies or games, either on standard video displays or when wearing a virtual reality (VR) headset. Studies published by pediatric epilepsy experts emphasize the low risk of 3D viewing even for children with known photosensitive epilepsy (PSE). The low incidence of PSE is noteworthy because the number of hours devoted to 2D or 3D screen viewing and/or VR headset use by children worldwide has increased markedly over the last decade. The medical literature does not support the notion that VR headset use poses a risk for PSE.

Keywords: children; epilepsy; stereoscopic; virtual reality.

Conflict of interest statement

LLT reports consulting fees for work done via the Epilepsy Study Consortium from Eisai Inc, GW Pharmaceuticals, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, and Zogenix, outside the submitted work. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.

© 2020 Tychsen and Thio.

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Source: PubMed

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