EAGER: Presence and Navigation in Virtual Reality Rehabilitation Games for Mobility Impaired Persons

University Of Texas At San Antonio, San Antonio TX

Investigators

Abstract

The term presence refers to a user's level of involvement in, or feeling of actually being part of, an immersive virtual environment (VE), or virtual reality (VR) as it is commonly called. Although researchers have been empirically studying presence for over 15 years, they have typically only focused on persons without disabilities. So whether the findings from these studies hold true for persons with mobility impairments is unknown. Based in part on his personal experiences, the PI hypothesizes that in fact many of these prior results may not be relevant to persons with mobility impairments deriving, for example, from stroke, Multiple Sclerosis, or Parkinson's disease. Many of these individuals have sensory deficits (e.g., numbness in the legs and feet), and use assistive devices (e.g., canes, walkers, or wheelchairs), which impact the way they navigate through a virtual space. This, in turn, could affect their experience of presence. VR games are intended to enable users to perform rehabilitation exercises (e.g., to practice walking in good form) as part of an immersive game. They aim to engage the user's senses with graphics, audio, and 3D user interfaces, and when properly designed have been shown to enhance motivation, which is a key factor in successful rehabilitation. However these games are not yet in widespread use for physical rehabilitation, most likely due to the many unanswered basic questions about how persons with mobility impairments navigate within a VE and how this affects their experience of presence. In this exploratory research the PI seeks to gain a better understanding of such issues, as well as their potential impact upon the user's motivation for rehabilitation. To these ends the PI will conduct a series of empirical studies in collaboration with the Neurology Institute of San Antonio (NISA). As preliminary work, he is currently studying how alternative navigation methods such as real walking, virtual walking, and flying impact presence for people who walk with canes. Although the preliminary study is still underway, initial results suggest that people who walk with canes experience lower presence than persons without mobility impairments. The PI plans to focus next on a number of fundamental aspects of VR that may affect navigation and presence, especially avatars (virtual representation of the body as well as of assistive devices such as a virtual cane) and field of view (the typical human field of view in the real world is about 120 degrees but it is much lower in a typical VE, which may complicate navigation for some mobility impaired persons). Through these studies, the PI will develop a new presence questionnaire that is tailored to mobility impaired persons and which can be integrated into existing presence questionnaires. The outcomes of this research will be potentially transformative, in that the findings will challenge and potentially disrupt accepted theories and perspectives of presence in the fields of VR and rehabilitation games. Broader Impacts: This exploratory research will lay the foundations for a better understanding of presence in VR for the mobility impaired that may enable more effective immersive experiences for this underrepresented population, thereby resulting to higher motivation and more effective VR games for rehabilitation. This, in turn, could ultimately improve rehabilitation adherence, thereby leading to an improved quality of life for mobility impaired persons. Moreover, The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) is a minority serving institution. The PI has initiated a UTSA Game Development Club, which he plans to expand as a gateway for minority student involvement in VR games research.