Contextual sensory integration training vs. traditional vestibular rehabilitation: a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Background: We created a clinical virtual reality application for vestibular rehabilitation. Our app targets contextual sensory integration (C.S.

Decrease in head sway as a measure of sensory integration following vestibular rehabilitation: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which sensory integration strategies via head sway, derived from a Head-Mounted Display (HMD), change in people with vestibular disorders following vestibular rehabilitation.

Design: Randomized Controlled TrialSetting:Vestibular Rehabilitation ClinicParticipants:Thirty participants with vestibular dysfunction and 21 age-matched controls.

Main Outcome Measures: Participants experienced two levels of visual surround (static or moving 'stars', front to back at 0.

Insight into postural control in unilateral sensorineural hearing loss and vestibular hypofunction.

This pilot study aimed to identify postural strategies in response to sensory perturbations (visual, auditory, somatosensory) in adults with and without sensory loss. We tested people with unilateral peripheral vestibular hypofunction (N = 12, mean age 62 range 23-78), or with Unilateral Sensorineural Hearing Loss (USNHL, N = 9, 48, 22-82), or healthy controls (N = 21, 52, 28-80). Postural sway and head kinematics parameters (Directional Path in the anterior-posterior and medio-lateral directions (sway & head); pitch, yaw and roll (head) were analyzed in response to 2 levels of auditory (none, rhythmic sounds via headphones), visual (static, dynamic) and somatosensory cues (floor, foam) within a simulated, virtual 3-wall display of stars.

UrbanRama: Navigating Cities in Virtual Reality.

Exploring large virtual environments, such as cities, is a central task in several domains, such as gaming and urban planning. VR systems can greatly help this task by providing an immersive experience; however, a common issue with viewing and navigating a city in the traditional sense is that users can either obtain a local or a global view, but not both at the same time, requiring them to continuously switch between perspectives, losing context and distracting them from their analysis. In this article, our goal is to allow users to navigate to points of interest without changing perspectives.

Weighting and reweighting of visual input via head mounted display given unilateral peripheral vestibular dysfunction.

We translated a well-established laboratory paradigm to study sensory integration into a Head-Mounted-Display (HMD). In the current study, a group of 23 individuals with unilateral vestibular dysfunction and 16 age-matched controls observed moving spheres projected from the Oculus Rift. We confirmed increased visual weighting with an unstable surface and decreased visual weighting (i.

An Oculus Rift Assessment of Dynamic Balance by Head Mobility in a Virtual Park Scene: A Pilot Study.

Postural sway does not differentiate between balance disorders. Head kinematics within a salient, immersive environment could potentially help identifying movement patterns that are unique to vestibular dysfunction. We describe a virtual park scene, where participants are asked to avoid a virtual ball approaching their head, to target dynamic balance and quantify head movement strategy.

Control Mechanisms of Static and Dynamic Balance in Adults With and Without Vestibular Dysfunction in Oculus Virtual Environments.

Background: Deficits in sensory integration and fear of falling in complex environments contribute to decreased participation of adults with vestibular disorders. With recent advances in virtual reality technology, head-mounted displays are affordable and allow manipulation of the environment to test postural responses to visual changes.

Objectives: To develop an assessment of static and dynamic balance with the Oculus Rift and (1) to assess test-retest reliability of each scene in adults with and without vestibular hypofunction; (2) to describe changes in directional path and sample entropy in response to changes in visuals and surface and compare between groups; and (3) to evaluate the relation between balance performance and self-reported disability and balance confidence.

Feasibility and reliability of a virtual reality oculus platform to measure sensory integration for postural control in young adults.

Background: Using Unity for the Oculus Development-Kit 2, we have developed an affordable, portable virtual reality platform that targets the visuomotor domain, a missing link in current clinical assessments of postural control. Here, we describe the design and technical development as well as report its feasibility with regards to cybersickness and test-retest reliability in healthy young adults.

Method: Our virtual reality paradigm includes two functional scenes ('City' and 'Park') and four moving dots scenes.

Future Reality: How Emerging Technologies Will Change Language Itself.

Just as notebook computers once freed us to take our computers with us, smartphones freed us to walk around with computers in our pockets, and wearables will soon free us from needing to hold a screen at all. Today, as high-quality virtual and augmented reality begins to become available at consumer prices, the "screen" will soon be all around us. But the largest long-term impact here may not merely be one of form factor, but rather one of language itself.

Assessment via the Oculus of Visual "Weighting" and "Reweighting" in Young Adults.

Substantial advances in virtual reality technology open an exciting window toward better understanding of subdomains of balance control. Here, we studied whether a portable virtual reality headset can be used to test sensory integration for balance. Twenty young adults stood on a both-sides-up ball or floor.