Virtual Reality Helps to Make Reality Better
VR technology being used to treat burn victims and others
From: Computerworld - 03/14/2005
By: Linda Rosencrance

Virtual reality, technology that gives users the feeling they are somewhere
else, can be of great value in treating people suffering from a variety of
physical or psychological conditions.  

Therapy based on the technology is being used in a small number of U.S.
clinics to treat burn victims and people with phobias such as the fear of
flying, spiders, and heights. Researchers say the technology holds enormous
promise for treating post-traumatic stress disorder and addictions and for
use as a distraction technique in painful dental and medical procedures,
including chemotherapy and physical therapy. 

Read the entire story at:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,120028,tk,dn031405X,00.asp

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Virtual Therapy: Just What Some Doctors Order
From: Computerworld - 03/14/2005 - P. 32
By: Linda Rosencrance

A small number of American clinics are using virtual reality to help patients
deal with phobias and injuries, and researchers say the technology shows
promise as a tool for treating addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder,
as well as helping distract patients during uncomfortable physical procedures
and therapies. Burn victims undergoing painful rehabilitative treatments can
immerse themselves in SnowWorld, an icy landscape in which they fly and hit
targets with snowballs, which keeps their mind off the pain, according to
Hunter Hoffman, SnowWorld developer and director of the University of
Washington Human Interface Technology Laboratory's Virtual Analgesia Research
Center. Virtual environments for treating anxiety disorders are a specialty
of Virtually Better, a company co-founded by Barbara Rothbaum, director of
the Emory University School of Medicine's Trauma and Anxiety Recovery
Program. She says the company's applications typically involve the user
wearing headgear equipped with dual displays, position trackers, sensors, and
earphones; and sometimes they use a handheld device to manipulate the
environment. Before therapeutic virtual reality applications can go
mainstream, they must become more physically and psychologically comfortable,
more technically efficient, and more cost effective, says Greenleaf Medical
Group President Walter Greenleaf. Virtually Better CEO Ken Graap expects the
field of view and resolution of head-mounted displays to be improved within
the next five years. He also anticipates the emergence of wireless systems
that facilitate at-home virtual reality treatment, while research scientist
Skip Rizzo sees more human-like and interactive avatars that can understand
and process speech on the horizon. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.computerworld.com/developmenttopics/development/story/0,10801,100306,00.html