VR technology designed for the elderly

VR Technology is currently having somewhat of a resurgence. There are several new VR headsets set to release in the coming months, and whilst some might think they are only targeted at the young, they are most definitely wrong. VR enables people to enter an entirely new world, one free of restraints, a world where a person can forget their anxiety or depression. There are already over a 100 clinical research papers proving that VR can have a positive effect on those suffering with depression, anxiety and even loneliness.

One Caring Team are an American healthcare provider that are working with new technologies to provide experiences to the elderly. Their software is called The Aloha Experience, it lets people experience a sunny beach setting- lovely palm trees included. So a person could be bed ridden physically, but be experiencing a sunny beach in VR. There are also clinical uses for VR, one example of these is a piece of software called SnowWorld. The software is designed to help alleviate the pain of burn victims by fooling the body into thinking it is in a colder environment. This is one of many virtual reality experiences used in tandem with pain relief. Don’t think that VR is solely linked to medical and recreational purposes though. Honor everywhere is a program that enables elderly war vets to visit the memorial of other fall vets, if they are not able to travel all they need is a smart phone and a cardboard mobile VR set

As VR moves closer to release, the healthcare industry is going to see a slow build-up of more apps catered to those who are ill and living a lower quality of health. While the success of VR is not guaranteed, there is a lot of excitement and creativity surround the healthcare aspects of the technology. It wouldn’t be too presumptuous to say VR is going to be a big success in healthcare and support, especially within elderly care.