Session 12913-54: Safety Assessment of Virtual Reality eye tracking modules

VR devices widely use multiple near-infrared LEDs for eye tracking. However, NIR illumination is potentially harmful to the human eye and skin. The international photobiological safety standard IEC 62471 provides guidelines for evaluating the photobiological hazards of incoherent broadband light sources. According to this standard, a measurement set up was designed and the classification scheme was used to classify a VR module. The number of LEDs, their geometrical orientation, optical power and duration of the exposure and the proximity to the eye are among the important parameters that could increase the damage to the cornea, lens and retina. Our safety assessment was done on a VR module and opens up possibilities to extend this safety assessment for other eye tracking modules used in AR, VR and MR.