Dynamic notification placement based on gaze concentration in HMD-VR

Virtual Reality (VR) offers users immersive experiences, but it has been shown that users often need messages and notifications from the outside world even during VR activities. However, inappropriate notification placement can lead to unnecessary task interruptions and information overload when notifications obstruct important visual areas or are positioned outside users’ attention zones. To address this issue, this study proposes a system that dynamically arranges notifications at different gaze concentration levels to evaluate optimal placement strategies in VR. This system utilizes eye-tracking technology to generate a 360-degree heatmap, identifying where users focus their attention. Notifications are then placed at three different gaze concentration levels (20th, 55th, and 85th percentiles) to examine the effects of placement proximity to attention areas. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the impact of notification placement on user experience. Results indicate that in environments with limited gaze movement, positioning notifications in high-gaze areas enhances visibility and recognition. Additionally, varying notification positions across different gaze concentration areas did not significantly affect perceived intrusiveness, urgency, immersion reduction, or comprehension. These findings suggest that gaze-adaptive notification placement can improve visibility without negatively impacting user experience, contributing to more effective VR notification systems.