Responses to a virtual reality grocery store in persons with and without vestibular dysfunction.
People with vestibular dysfunction often complain of having difficulty walking in visually complex environments. Virtual reality (VR) may serve as a useful therapeutic tool for providing physical therapy to these people. The purpose of this pilot project was to explore the ability of people with and without vestibular dysfunction to use and tolerate virtual environments that can be used in physical therapy. We have chosen grocery store environments, which often elicit complaints from patients. Two patients and three control subjects were asked to stand and navigate in VR grocery stores while finding products. Perceived discomfort, simulator sickness symptoms, distance traveled, and speed of head movement were recorded. Symptoms and discomfort increased in one subject with vestibular dysfunction. The older subjects traveled a shorter distance and had greater speed of head movements compared with young subjects. Environments with a greater number of products resulted in more head movements and a shorter distance traveled.
Whitney
Susan L
SL
Department of Physical Therapy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA. whitney@pitt.edu
Sparto
Patrick J
PJ
Hodges
Larry F
LF
Babu
Sabarish V
SV
Furman
Joseph M
JM
Redfern
Mark S
MS
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003132:Commerce; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012016:Reference Values; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D015837:Vestibular Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation* / Q000628:therapy; D014724:Vestibular Function Tests; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D016138:Walking