Eye-tracked Virtual Reality: A Comprehensive Survey on Methods and Privacy Challenges
Efe Bozkir, Süleyman Özdel, Mengdi Wang, Brendan David-John, Hong Gao, Kevin Butler, Eakta Jain, Enkelejda Kasneci
TL;DR
This survey synthesizes a decade of eye-tracking research in VR (2012–2022), unifying hardware, datasets, algorithms, HCI, cognition, perception, and privacy under a privacy-centric lens. It delineates a complete processing pipeline—from eye-region detection and gaze estimation to eye-based interaction and offline analysis—and catalogs privacy challenges and mitigation strategies, including authentication and privacy-preserving data mechanisms. The work highlights three forward-looking directions: privacy in social VR/metaverse, the privacy-utility trade-off in real-time VR applications, and stimulus/environment design for privacy-preserving eye tracking. By compiling comprehensive taxonomies, performance benchmarks, and methodological considerations, the paper informs researchers and practitioners about practical privacy-preserving designs and the social implications of pervasive gaze data in immersive environments. The findings underscore the need for context-aware privacy controls, robust evaluation of user experience under privacy protections, and standards for privacy-preserving eye-tracking deployment in VR.
Abstract
The latest developments in computer hardware, sensor technologies, and artificial intelligence can make virtual reality (VR) and virtual spaces an important part of human everyday life. Eye tracking offers not only a hands-free way of interaction but also the possibility of a deeper understanding of human visual attention and cognitive processes in VR. Despite these possibilities, eye-tracking data also reveals users' privacy-sensitive attributes when combined with the information about the presented stimulus. To address all, this survey first covers major works in eye tracking, VR, and privacy areas between 2012 and 2022. While eye tracking in VR part covers the computational eye tracking pipeline from pupil detection and gaze estimation to offline data analysis, for privacy and security, we focus on eye-based authentication as well as computational methods to preserve the privacy of individuals and their eye-tracking data in VR. Later, we outline three main directions by focusing on privacy. In summary, this survey presents an extensive literature review of the utmost possibilities of eye tracking in VR and their privacy implications.