or those in an assisted living facility, the chance atscuba diving or visiting the Grand Canyon is notlikely to come around again. At least not in reality,but virtually—anything is possible.

A NewReality

How virtual reality experiences are expanding into arenas beyond just entertainment By Liz Hunter

Just a few months ago, this was possiblefor residents at Encore at Avalon Park, anassisted living and memory care communityhere in Orlando. Equipped with virtualreality headsets, residents were treated tofully immersive virtual reality experiences,like visiting the beach or sitting in a jazzclub, evoking feelings of pleasant memoriesand calmness. The experience was part of atrial program created by MyndVR, a Dallas-based health and wellness company focusedon virtual reality (VR) solutions for adults55 and over, the goal of which is to relieveor reduce symptoms in those withAlzheimer’s, dementia or Parkinson’s.

“We’re always looking at non-pharma-cological approaches to help those with amemory deficit,” says Kimberly Edwards,executive director of Encore at Avalon Park.“We’ve offered music and pet therapy, sothe idea of virtual reality therapy was anotherway to provide an alternative to medicationfor residents.”

Edwards witnessed changes in the resi-dents who tried this technology. For thoseviewing the jazz club environment—whichincluded a live singer and other “virtual”people enjoying cocktails—through theirVR headset, Edwards says it was fun to seetheir response. “Some of them respondedby singing along to the music, or tappingand moving their feet,” she says. “And manyof them were reminded of experiences intheir own life and would start talking aboutit. It evoked very pleasant memories forthem.”

Although not a traditional approachto entertaining the assisted living

population, Edwards says she

sees the benefits of virtual reality. “I definitelythink a VR program of some sort has a placein long-term care,” she says. “I think as theyounger generations move into assisted liv-ing—people more familiar with the tech-nology—it will be more well received. It’sgoing to be something you see in thesecommunities more and more.”

It’s a trend taking hold nationwide. Virtualreality is creeping into our real-world expe-riences. It’s in high demand for entertainmentand gaming—smartphones and headsetslike Google Daydream bring VR to our fin-gertips, and Sony has sold 2 million PlaySta-tion VR headsets since it launched a yearago—but organizations are increasinglylooking at ways it can be used for good.This includes medical professionals prac-ticing procedures on virtual patients orviewing their MRIs in a 3D environment,and military training programs that canreplicate scenarios without extraneous ex-penses or time for traveling—training canbe anywhere.

The University of Central Florida (UCF)is harnessing the technology for both stu-dents and the community at large. UCF RE-STORES is a clinical research center in thedepartment of psychology at UCF. Foundedby Dr. Deborah Beidel, the center studiesanxiety, trauma and PTSD with an emphasison new technology treatment methods, in-cluding virtual reality. In an intensive three-week program, PTSD sufferers go throughtherapy that exposes them to the events ortriggers of PTSD symptoms.

“They can experience high levels of anx-iety, nightmares, flashbacks to events, andthey avoid situations, people and places

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that remind them of traumatic events,”says Beidel. “They become emotionallynumb to the point where they are notable to experience pleasant emotions,and because of the nightmares, theymay only sleep a few hours a night.”

During the program, participantsare exposed to these scenarios, sights,sounds and smells that could triggerthem. “We are able to reproduce thingsin technology that I can’t do in reallife,” she says. “I can’t set off an IED,nor would I want to, but I can do it inthe VR environment.” The goal, Beideladds, is to take away the association ofthose triggers with the horrific eventthey experienced. At the end of theprogram, 66.9 percent of the partici-pants no longer meet the diagnosticcriteria for PTSD.

UCF RESTORES treats combat vet-erans as well as first responders, manyof whom responded to the Pulse night-club shooting. Currently, the program’sVR technology is specific for combat-related PTSD, but they are working ona new VR program specifically for firstresponders who may have differenttriggers, such as strobe lights, the smellof alcohol, certain music, and VR wouldadd the visual component.

“This technology is a wonderfultool in the hands of a skilled clinician,”Beidel says. “I would never say tech-nology is the treatment, but it makeswhat we’re doing better.”

Beidel is also working on an appli-cation that will assist children withsocial anxiety and is in the stages offinding participants for a study. Theapp would help kids practice friend-ship-making skills, including learninghow to talk to people and giving com-pliments, all with a virtual reality avatar.

The nonprofit Starlight Children’sFoundation is also using the technologyfor a new program rolling out in spring2018 aimed at children in hospitals.Starlight Virtual Reality is an initiativeformed with partners Star Wars: Forcefor Change, Niagara Cares and Google,and will provide entertainment and dis-traction to young, seriously ill patients.The program was announced at theFlorida Children’s Hospital last year,which will be one of the earliest recipi-ents of the VR technology.

“We feel strongly that virtual realityis the next frontier, and this programwill use the power of virtual reality tovirtually teleport seriously ill hospital-

ized kids who can’t leave the hospital orroom for weeks on end,” says Starlight Chil-dren’s Foundation CEO Chris de Haan. “Wecan bring him or her anywhere in the world—and beyond.” Starlight is working withGoogle and Lenovo on customizations to anew headset built specifically for use inhospitals in accordance with infection pro-tocols.

With Lucasfilm and parent organizationDisney behind them, the storytelling pos-sibilities are endless. De Haan says, whilewearing a headset, children can virtuallyexist in the Star Wars galaxy, take field tripsaround the world via Google Expeditionsor create virtual artwork with Tilt Brush byGoogle. Lucasfilm is also creating custom,original content based on Star Wars for useonly on this VR program.

“We’re trying to bring an array of hap-piness and awesomeness to these kids,” hesays. There is also the added research onpatients who are immersed in VR while un-dergoing a painful procedure showing a re-duced need for painkillers.

“There are so many benefits to this tech-

nology and there’s a likelihood it catcheson in a major way,” says de Haan. “Whatwe’re looking to do hits the bullseye fornow, plus the reduction in need for medi-cation and educating people in unique ways.

There are a lot of positive ways this technologycan be harnessed for good.”

De Haan adds that 750 units of theStarlight Virtual Reality program will roll outin hospitals nationwide in 2018, but he hopesto see it go further. “Our goal is for everychild at every major medical facility to haveaccess to this program because a hospitalexperience can be tough and we want to

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UCF Computer Science doctoral student Corey Pittman in the new lab. Photo by Kimberly J. Lewis

make it as positive as possible,” hesays.

As the avenues for VR technologyexpand, local educational institutionsare stepping up to make sure studentsare prepared for these careers. Backat UCF, a new virtual and augmentedreality lab will give students the op-portunity to get hands-on experienceand fine tune their skills.

Joe LaViola is the director of theInteractive Computing ExperiencesResearch Cluster. He says he haswanted to bring a lab like this tocampus for years, especially with therising prominence of VR and AR (aug-mented reality) devices and content.

“This lab will allow students towork on projects of their own designor within a class and get experiencefor their résumé and get a leg up forthe tech jobs,” says LaViola. He high-lights major companies like Mi-crosoft, Google and Playstation, whohave shown a vested interest in thetechnology, which is becoming morecommercially viable for consumers.

Inside the UCF lab, five VR stationsare equipped with the HTC Vive dis-play, and on either side of the roomis open space for tracked space, whichallows the person using a device tomove around while they are trackedby cameras mounted in the cornersof the room. LaViola hopes to add alarge TV to the space to display thevirtual environment for more thanone person at a time.

He says the lab was used in a 3Dinterfacing class project where studentscaptured images of a part of the UCFcampus with 360 degree cameras andthey created an interactive video ex-perience. An AR application that teach-es people how to play soccer was alsotested and developed in the lab, com-plete with a field and an intelligenttutoring system.

“It’s going to be important for stu-dents to get experience, and not justcomputer science students. There ispsychology, understanding how peoplework is equally important as how thetechnology works, so we’d love to seemulti-disciplined teams working to-gether in the lab,” LaViola says.

Considering Orlando’s boom intech-sector growth—it was rankedNo. 6 for fastest growing by Time in2017—it’s no surprise that virtual re-ality is being embraced here. Thiscity will be one to watch as this virtualtechnology increasingly influencesour real-world experiences.

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