Design and development of a Virtual Reality system

Background

In this study, a Virtual Reality (VR) system (simulated kitchen; Sim:Kitchen) has been designed and developed for use in the rehabilitation of adults with neurogenic communication disorders. VR has the potential to provide a safe, supported life-like environment in which people undergoing communication rehabilitation could practice therapy tasks and gain confidence before entering actual real-world communication contexts.

The projects are led by Dr Atiyeh Vaezipour in collaboration with Dr Sebastian Koenig (Katana Simulations) and RECOVER Senior Research Assistant Danielle Aldridge.

Aims

The aim of this project is to investigate the perspectives of speech pathologists about the use of VR and the simulated kitchen tool for people with communication disorders as a means to optimise rehabilitation engagement and outcomes.

Progress

A prototyped version of a Simulated Kitchen VR application has been developed. To date, 15 speech pathologists have experienced the VR application and provided feedback as part of the human-centred design and co-design process.

Consumer engagement

Speech pathologists have provided feedback on the immersive Simulated Kitchen VR application as a part of the human-centred design and co-design process.

Dissemination

Vaezipour, A., Aldridge, D., Wall, K., Koenig, S., Theodoros, D. (2019). Design and Development of a Virtual Reality System for the Management of Adult Neurogenic Communication Disorder. In Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality, ISMAR 2019, Beijing (China), on October 14-18, 2019.

Who benefits from this research?

The consumers (or end-users) of the research findings include people with acquired brain injury, speech pathologists and other health professionals working in the acquired brain injury area.