Multisensory Presence in Virtual Reality

2012 ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Gallace ◽  
Mary K. Ngo ◽  
John Sulaitis ◽  
Charles Spence
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Limited Bandwidth ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Simulated Environment ◽  
Cognitive Neurosciences ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Exciting Potential ◽  
To Come ◽  
Technological Limitations ◽  
Stimulation Of

Perception in the real world is inherently multisensory, often involving visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory, and, on occasion, nociceptive (i.e., painful) stimulation. In fact, the vast majority of life’s most enjoyable experiences involve the stimulation of several senses simultaneously. Outside of the entertainment industry, however, the majority of virtual reality (VR) applications thus far have involved the stimulation of only one, or at most two, senses, typically vision, audition, and, on occasion, touch/haptics. That said, the research that has been conducted to date has convincingly shown that increasing the number of senses stimulated in a VR simulator can dramatically enhance a user’s ‘sense of presence’, their enjoyment, and even their memory for the encounter/experience. What is more, given that the technology has been improving rapidly, and the costs associated with VR systems are continuing to come down, it seems increasingly likely that truly multisensory VR should be with us soon (albeit 50 years after Heilig, 1962, originally introduced Sensorama). However, it is important to note that there are both theoretical and practical limitations to the stimulation of certain senses in VR. In this chapter, after having defined the concept of ‘neurally-inspired VR’, we highlight some of the most exciting potential applications associated with engaging more of a user’s senses while in a simulated environment. We then review the key technical challenges associated with stimulating multiple senses in a VR setting. We focus on the particular problems associated with the stimulation of the senses of touch, smell, and taste. We also highlight the problems associated with the limited bandwidth of human sensory perception and the psychological costs associated with users having to divide their attention between multiple sensory modalities simultaneously. Finally, we discuss how the findings provided by the extant research in the cognitive neurosciences might help to overcome, at least in part, some of the cognitive and technological limitations affecting the development of multisensory VR systems.

Tele-immersion

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Jayanthila Devi
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Geographic Locations ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Virtual Objects ◽  
Advanced Form ◽  
Simulated Environment ◽  
Group Members ◽  
To Come

Tele-immersion is an advanced form of virtual reality that will allow users in different places to interact in real time in a shared simulated environment. Tele-immersion is a technology to be implemented with Internet that will enable users in different geographic locations to come together in a simulated environment to interact. Users will feel like they are actually looking, talking, and meeting with each other face-to-face in the same room.This technology causes users to feel as if they were in the same room. The tele-immersion technology uses a "tele-cubicle" which is equipped with large screens, scanners, sensors, and cameras. The tele-cubicles are linked together in real-time so that they form one larger cubicle. Through the virtual environment, participants are able to interact with other group members. Also, virtual objects and data can be passed through the walls between participants, and placed on the shared table in the middle for viewing.

scholarly journals Using virtual reality to allow paramedics to familiarise themselves with a new ambulance patient compartment design

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Alinier ◽  
Tooba Salahuddin ◽  
AbdelGhani Karkar ◽  
Ahmed Gueddes ◽  
Suresh Devaraj ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Interior Design ◽  
Likert Scale ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
The Real ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Potential Applications

Background: Virtual reality (VR) is still an evolving domain that presents a versatile medium to simulate various environments and scenarios that can be easily reset between users, which can be particularly useful for training purposes. In this pilot study, we recreated the interior of a modular ambulance patient compartment with elements that can be moved and also had access to the real physical ambulance with the same interior design and equipment. The primary objective of this study was to determine the usability of the VR patient compartment in terms of functionality and sense of presence. Methods: Paramedics were invited to take part in this pilot study which involved them attending a 15-minute presentation about ambulance safety and ergonomics, familiarise themselves with the VR equipment, position the modular elements of the ambulance patient compartment in the VR or real setting (and vice versa), and complete a questionnaire corresponding to the task completed and adapted from an existing tool. They were unknowingly timed during the activities inside the real and VR ambulance for comparative purposes. Results: Twenty-seven participants were recruited, 77.8% of whom had no prior VR experience. On the 7-point Likert scale questionnaire, the participants scored the various aspects of usability (ease of grabbing elements, ease of recognising fixed/movable elements, distinguishing close from far objects, ease of “playing” the game…) between 5.59 to 6.26 and their sense of presence as 6.11 (SD = 1.121). Participants were faster arranging the modular elements in the VR setting than in the real one (8.78 min, SD = 4.47 versus 13.05 min, SD = 5.04). Conclusion: VR technology and potential applications are still rapidly developing. This pilot study shows promising results in terms of ease of use and sense of presence for the paramedics. This demonstrates that VR can be used for interactive familiarisation with an environment such as an ambulance patient compartment and can be used to assist in their design.

Effect of Degrees of Freedom on the Sense of Presence Generated by Virtual Reality (VR) Head-Mounted Display Systems: A Case Study on the Use of VR in Early Design Studios

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tilanka Chandrasekera ◽  
Kinkini Fernando ◽  
Luis Puig
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Student Perception ◽  
Early Design ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Simulated Environment ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Being There

The purpose of this research was to explore the use of virtual reality (VR) in early design studios. In this research project, two different types of Head-Mounted Display (HMD) systems were used. One type of HMD provided six degrees of freedom and the other HMD provided three degrees of freedom. The research findings provide comparison on the functionality of the different types of HMDs and the sense of presence in VR environments. Sense of presence is defined as the sense of “being there” in a computer-simulated environment. The outcomes of this research are (a) development of a new presence questionnaire that focuses on newer VR systems and (b) understanding student perception of using VR in design projects.

The application of virtual reality in health professions� digital education: a narrative review (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorraine Tudor Car ◽  
Bhone Myint Kyaw ◽  
Josip Car
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Health Professions ◽  
Health Professions Education ◽  
Narrative Review ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Educational Content ◽  
Potential Applications

BACKGROUND Digital technology called Virtual Reality (VR) is increasingly employed in health professions’ education. Yet, based on the current evidence, its use is narrowed around a few most applications and disciplines. There is a lack of an overview that would capture the diversity of different VR applications in health professions’ education and inform its use and research. OBJECTIVE This narrative review aims to explore different potential applications of VR in health professions’ education. METHODS The narrative synthesis approach to literature review was used to analyse the existing evidence. RESULTS We outline the role of VR features such as immersion, interactivity and feedback and explain the role of VR devices. Based on the type and scope of educational content VR can represent space, individuals, objects, structures or their combination. Application of VR in medical education encompasses environmental, organ and micro level. Environmental VR focuses on training in relation to health professionals’ environment and human interactions. Organ VR educational content targets primarily human body anatomy; and micro VR microscopic structures at the level of cells, molecules and atoms. We examine how different VR features and health professional education areas match these three VR types. CONCLUSIONS We conclude by highlighting the gaps in the literature and providing suggestions for future research.

scholarly journals Multiclass emotion prediction using heart rate and virtual reality stimuli

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Frederick Bulagang ◽  
James Mountstephens ◽  
Jason Teo
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Nearest Neighbor ◽  
Subject Classification ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Display Device ◽  
K Nearest Neighbor ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Health Rehabilitation ◽  
Emotion Model

Abstract Background Emotion prediction is a method that recognizes the human emotion derived from the subject’s psychological data. The problem in question is the limited use of heart rate (HR) as the prediction feature through the use of common classifiers such as Support Vector Machine (SVM), K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) and Random Forest (RF) in emotion prediction. This paper aims to investigate whether HR signals can be utilized to classify four-class emotions using the emotion model from Russell’s in a virtual reality (VR) environment using machine learning. Method An experiment was conducted using the Empatica E4 wristband to acquire the participant’s HR, a VR headset as the display device for participants to view the 360° emotional videos, and the Empatica E4 real-time application was used during the experiment to extract and process the participant's recorded heart rate. Findings For intra-subject classification, all three classifiers SVM, KNN, and RF achieved 100% as the highest accuracy while inter-subject classification achieved 46.7% for SVM, 42.9% for KNN and 43.3% for RF. Conclusion The results demonstrate the potential of SVM, KNN and RF classifiers to classify HR as a feature to be used in emotion prediction in four distinct emotion classes in a virtual reality environment. The potential applications include interactive gaming, affective entertainment, and VR health rehabilitation.

scholarly journals A Sense of Presence: Mediating an American Apocalypse

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Rachel Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Religious Practice ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
To Come

Here I build upon Robert Orsi’s work by arguing that we can see presence—and the longing for it—at work beyond the obvious spaces of religious practice. Presence, I propose, is alive and well in mediated apocalypticism, in the intense imagination of the future that preoccupies those who consume its narratives in film, games, and role plays. Presence is a way of bringing worlds beyond into tangible form, of touching them and letting them touch you. It is, in this sense, that Michael Hoelzl and Graham Ward observe the “re-emergence” of religion with a “new visibility” that is much more than “simple re-emergence of something that has been in decline in the past but is now manifesting itself once more.” I propose that the “new awareness of religion” they posit includes the mediated worlds that enchant and empower us via deeply immersive fandoms. Whereas religious institutions today may be suspicious of presence, it lives on in the thick of media fandoms and their material manifestations, especially those forms that make ultimate promises about the world to come.

Contextual priming to increase the sense of presence in virtual reality: exploratory study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Cerda ◽  
Aurélie Fauvarque ◽  
Pierluigi Graziani ◽  
Jonathan Del-Monte
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Sense Of Presence

Effect of Virtual Reality Graded Exposure on Heart Rate and Self-Reported Anxiety Levels of Performing Saxophonists

2003 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 302-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn K. Orman
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Exposure Period ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Graded Exposure ◽  
Subjective Measurements ◽  
Anxiety Levels ◽  
Exposure Sessions ◽  
Virtual Reality Exposure

This study is an examination of the effect of computer-generated virtual reality graded exposure on the physiological and psychological responses of performing musicians. Eight university saxophone majors, five men and three women, participated in twelve 15- to 20-minute weekly practice sessions during which they were immersed in one of four different virtual environments designed to elicit various anxiety levels. Baseline heart rates and subjective measurements were taken prior to immersion and continued throughout the exposure period. In addition, heart rate and subjective measurements were recorded for three live performances given by each subject before beginning the virtual reality exposure and after completion of the sixth and the twelfth exposure sessions. Findings indicated that the virtual environments did elicit a sense of presence and may have provided the means for desensitization. Heart-rate readings and psychological indications of anxiety did not always correspond.

Application of Virtual Reality Technology in Teaching

2013 ◽  
Vol 475-476 ◽  
pp. 1230-1234
Author(s):  
Guo Qing Huang ◽  
Tong Hua Yang ◽  
Sheng Xu
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Direct Interaction ◽  
Application Process ◽  
Input Devices ◽  
Existing Problems ◽  
Simulated Environment ◽  
Technology In Teaching ◽  
Comprehensive Information ◽  
Visual Reality ◽  
Problems And Solutions

Virtual reality (VR) is a computer-simulated environment that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world or imagined worlds. It is new comprehensive information technology which enables users to "access" to the computer-simulated environment through the use of standard input devices and realize the direct interaction between users and the simulated environment. With a case study by using the theory of visual reality technology, this thesis analysises the application types and application methods of visual reality technology as well as the existing problems and solutions during the application process of visual reality technology.

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