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We proposed a novel concept of the on-line hospital system using a virtual reality called “Hyper Hospital”. For making the “Hyper Hospital” come true, it is important to investigate the effect of the virtual reality system (V. R. system) on the human body. In this experiment, twenty healthy young male subjects were exposed to our own V. R. system and their circulatory and respiratory function including blood pressure, ECG, pulse wave, etc., were recorded for 35 minutes. Results showed that the subjects did not experience strong effects on their circulatory and respiratory function by the V. R. system.

We are studying the virtual reality which is used as mean of human interface between the patients and the Hyper Hospital-a network based virtual reality mediated medical care system. For making the Hyper Hospital come true, it is important to investigate the effect of the virtual reality system (V. R. system) on the human body. In the present study, twenty healthy young subjects underwent the physiological measurements while using our own head mounted display (HMD). We measured the auditory response time which is regarded as a measure of a net activity of the central nervous system and is known to be affected by many physiological conditions such as fatigue. We also measured the critical flicker frequency (CFF) values before, during, and after the application of the V. R. system. The psychological fatigue was measured quantitatively by standard questionnaires and the Kraepelin test. The Yatabe-Guilford (YG) test was also carried out to investigate the influence of the individual character on the psychological fatigue. Some discomforts were complained after 30 minutes use of our HMD by almost all of the subjects. Examination of the CFF values did not show any significant changes due to the application of the V. R. system. No statistically significant difference was found by the usage of the V. R. system. The subjective fatigue measured using a standard questionnaires suggested that psychological fatigue was more significant than physical fatigue. No significant correlations were found between the result of the Kraepelin test and the individual character measured by YG test. No statistically significant fatigue was found by the usage of the V. R. system, and it was therefore suggested that the short time application of the V. R. system does not affect the human neurological and psychological response.

We are studying virtual reality system for “Hyper Hospital”. The “Hyper Hospital” is a medical care system which is distributedly constructed on an electronic information network. In the present report, we discussed a new version of our virtual reality system using a head-position sensor by the ultrasound, and a new head mounted display as the hardware parts of the system. We also developed an object oriented software to construct the virtual world for the Hyper Hospital. For severely disabled patients, we are studying the feasibility of the ERP (event related potential of the electroencephalogram) based human interface. The prototype system of the “Hyper Hospital” developed in the present study was shown to be applicable to the real medical environment.