Above: VR hospital from Oculus/ Image Credit: Oculus
When we think about virtual reality (VR), games such as Job Simulator and Raw Data usually spring to mind. It’s understandable that many of us view VR headsets like the Oculus Rift as glorified video game consoles; VR’s early breakout commercial successes have largely been in the entertainment genre.
In fact, VR has quietly been making significant improvements to the lives of people with issues such as chronic pain, lazy eye, and autism. In this piece, I’ve interviewed three VR entrepreneurs who are pioneering virtual solutions to improve healthcare.
Advancing autism therapy
More than 3.5 million Americans live with an autism spectrum disorder, the name for a range of similar conditions, including Asperger syndrome, that affect a person’s social interaction and communication abilities. There’s no “cure” for autism, but speech and language therapy can help. Autism therapy has traditionally required in-person sessions with doctors as children would play with toys, as a means to help the child interact socially. With the rise of VR autism therapy solutions, trips to the doctor’s office may be less necessary.
Vijay Ravindran is the CEO and co-founder of Floreo, a startup that uses VR platforms to provide safe and immersive social and communication therapy. “Our product uses mobile VR, such as Google Cardboard, to spur virtual characters in a scene to instigate social interactions with children who need therapy,” Ravindran says. “We can reimagine conventional therapy, and bring it to life. Rather than looking at toys on a table, for instance, a child can see an elephant in a virtual safari park.”
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Karuna Labs’ products use Virtual Embodiment Therapy™, in which patients stop relying on how they see their body in a real space and start identifying with an avatar in a virtual space. Because that illusion is necessary to deliver results to patients, the company uses high-end VR headsets such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. Anecdotally, the product has shown signs that it can rehabilitate chronic pain sufferers. Weinberg says, “We’ve seen patients receive pain relief to an extent that they don’t have to stay at home to work anymore—or they can finally play with their kids or grandkids.”
Improving eyesight without surgery
If you have sub-optimal vision and want to improve your eyesight, your choices thus far have largely been limited to wearing glasses, contacts, or undergoing eye surgery. However, with the advent of VR vision therapies, another option may gain traction.
James Blaha is CEO and founder of Vivid Vision, which claims to be the most advanced treatment system for lazy eye in the world. Vivid Vision works by having VR headsets deliver two different images to both of a patient’s eyes. “We split the virtual scene into two images – one for the strong eye and one for the weak eye,” Blaha explains. “Then we decrease the signal strength of the VR objects in the strong eye and increase it for the weak eye, making it easier for them to work together. With practice, both eyes learn how to work more effectively together. Each week, the difference between the eyes gets smaller and smaller.”
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Source: Venture Beat