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Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the evaluation of the safety features of a virtual reality (VR) system. Several measures of the physiological, biochemical, neurological, and psychological fatigue are calculated before, during, and after the control experiments. Similar is the case with the VR loading experiments in the study discussed in the chapter. It is found that there is subjective fatigue, particularly related with the psychological condition. The urinary catecholamine release (including epinephrine and dopamine) is found to increase in the VR loading sessions as well as the control video sessions. No increase in the norepinephrine release in the VR experiments are found while it increased in the control video session. Based on this, it is speculated that the use of VR does not have much effect on the physical condition, but may slightly affect the mental or psychological state; however, the extent of this effect is not as severe as the usual video presentation.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the general construction, user reconfigurable design, new cybernetic interface, feasibility, and safety features of virtual reality technology as a human interface to networked medical systems. The prototype of the Hyper Hospital described in this chapter has shown that the user reconfigurable virtual reality (VR) world paradigm can be implemented into such a system and can be practically used for this purpose. Two series based on the studies of safety features of virtual reality technologies were carried out. In the first series, 20 healthy young male subjects, and in the second series 10 such subjects underwent the psychological interviews in the virtual space using the virtual reality system for a relatively short duration. Several measures of the physiological, biochemical, neurological, and psychological fatigue are measured before, during, and after the interview session. However, there were no significant changes in the measured objective parameters of fatigue. The features of the user reconfigurable virtual reality world creation as shown in the present study are thought to be very useful. The VR technology is shown to be a potentially powerful tool for the improvement of modern medical care.