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Background To assess whether call center operators are subject to or suffer from any auditory fatigue when compared to normal subjects. A prospective case-control study where twenty-eight call center operators (10 females and 18 males) with an age range from 25 to 46 years and twenty controls (12 females and 8 males) with an age range from 23 to 44 years were included. All call center operators use a headset for up to 8 h daily for a minimum of two consecutive years. Audiological assessments were done to all participants that included pure tone audiometry (PTA), speech audiometry, tympanometry, and acoustic reflexes. Moreover, transient-evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) absolute threshold and distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) signal to noise thresholds as well as contralateral suppression of TEOAEs and DPOAEs were recorded for both groups. Results There was no significant variation in auditory performances detected with either PTA or OAE (TEOAEs and DPOAEs) test. Besides, there was no statistically significant difference in OAEs (TEOAEs and DPOAEs) with contralateral suppression for both the call center operators and control groups. However, call center operators expressed a feeling of tiredness. Conclusions There was no detectable central or peripheral auditory fatigue experienced by the call center operators when using headsets. However, their sensation of auditory fatigue could be due to cognitive fatigue rather than noise-induced fatigue.

Eye-tracking with gaze estimation is a key element in many applications, ranging from foveated rendering and user interaction to behavioural analysis and usage metrics. For virtual reality, eye-tracking typically relies on near-eye cameras that are mounted in the VR headset. Such methods usually involve an initial calibration to create a mapping from eye features to a gaze position. However, the accuracy based on the initial calibration degrades when the position of the headset relative to the users’ head changes; this is especially noticeable when users readjust the headset for comfort or even completely remove it for a short while. We show that a correction of such shifts can be achieved via 2D drift vectors in eye space. Our method estimates these drifts by extracting salient cues from the shown virtual environment to determine potential gaze directions. Our solution can compensate for HMD shifts, even those arising from taking off the headset, which enables us to eliminate reinitialization steps.

Talking on a cell phone can impair driving performance, but the dynamics of this effect are not fully understood. We examined the effects of leaving a voicemail message on driving when there are critical driving targets to attend to (crosswalks and pedestrians). Participants engaged in an ecologically-valid “voicemail” task while navigating a virtual environment using a driving simulator. We also examined the potential weakening or strengthening of effects of leaving a voicemail message on driving as the familiarity and predictability of critical targets changed. Participants completed four experimental runs through the same driving environment in a driving simulator. There were two crosswalks, one with a pedestrian entering the roadway and one without a pedestrian and the location of the pedestrian was predictable (the same pedestrian consistently used the same crosswalk) for the first three runs and then unpredictable for the fourth. Half of the participants left voicemail messages using a hands-free headset, while the other half drove in silence. Leaving a voicemail message increased steering deviation and velocity. Drivers who were leaving a voicemail message decelerated for pedestrians in the roadway to a similar speed as drivers who were not leaving a voicemail message, but they were delayed in braking. Drivers who were leaving a voicemail message also had worse memory for roadway landmarks. These effects were relatively stable across runs through the same driving environment, suggesting that familiarity and predictability did not impact the effects of leaving a voicemail message while driving. Therefore, leaving a voicemail message leads to poorer driving behavior; faster speed, variable steering, and worse memory for roadway landmarks. Interestingly, although drivers who were leaving a voicemail message were slower to react to local targets, they slowed as much as drivers who were not leaving a voicemail message and familiarity with the driving environment did not impact the effects of leaving a voicemail message on driving.

Orbital Battleship, published in 2016 in this Journal, is a hands-on competitive exercise which has been shown to be an efficient tool to reinforce the knowledge of the atomic structure. We decided to give it a more futuristic look and are presenting VR Orbital Battleship, a completely immersive collaborative experience which, in contrast to the pen-and-paper version, guarantees that students are unable to fill in an erroneous electron configuration thanks to the special control elements of the game. Hence, they are motivated to do their best in order to apply Madelung’s rule and Hund’s rule right to be able to start the game. The game design makes full use of what the immersive virtual reality has to offer: the headset completely immerses the player in the process of the game, resulting in less distraction compared to the classic version. Furthermore, the game’s design is user-friendly and intuitive, and thus, it adds to the overall immersive experience. The game is recommended for use as an interactive addition to school and university classes that are dedicated to the atomic structure. VR Orbital Battleship is available for free worldwide in both a portable mobile platform (Oculus Go) and a PC version by downloading the game (see the Supporting Information of this paper).

We built a virtual reality (VR) application that runs on a commercially available standalone VR headset that allows patients to view a virtual simulation of themselves receiving radiotherapy. The purpose of this study was to determine if this experience can improve patient understanding of radiotherapy and/or reduce patient anxiety. We created software that reads data from our clinical treatment planning system and renders the plan on a life-size “virtual linear accelerator.” The patient’s CT simulation data is converted into a 3D translucent virtual human shown lying on the treatment table while visible yellow radiation beams are delivered to the target volumes in the patient. We conducted a prospective study to determine if showing patients their radiotherapy plan in VR improves patient education and/or reduces anxiety about treatment. A total of 43 patients were enrolled. The most common plans were 3D breast tangents and intensity-modulated radiotherapy prostate plans. Patients were administered pre- and post-experience questionnaires. Thirty-two patients (74%) indicated that they “strongly agree” that the VR session gave them a better understanding of how radiotherapy will be used to treat their cancer. Of the 21 patients who expressed any anxiety about radiotherapy beforehand, 12 (57%) said that the VR session helped decrease their anxiety about undergoing radiotherapy. In our single-institution, single-arm prospective patient study, we found that the majority of patients reported that the personalized VR experience was educational and can reduce anxiety. VR technology has potential to be a powerful adjunctive educational tool for cancer patients about to undergo radiotherapy. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s13187-020-01870-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Virtual reality (VR) paradigms have proved to be a valid method to challenge and perturb balance. There is little consensus in the literature on the best protocol design to perturb balance and induce postural sway. Current VR interventions still lack a well-defined standardized metric to generate a virtual environment that can perturb balance in an efficacious, lifelike, and repeatable manner. The objective of this study was to investigate different configurations of amplitude and frequency in an anterior–posterior translation VR environment, that is, lifelike and scaled. Thirteen young adults with no conditions affecting balance were recruited. Balance was challenged by anterior–posterior sinusoidal movement of the lab image within the VR headset. Four different amplitudes of the sinusoidal movement were tested: 1, 5, 10, and 20 cm, with each amplitude being presented at 2 test frequencies : 0.5 and 0.25 Hz. Mean center of pressure velocity was significantly greater than baseline at 0.5 Hz and amplitudes of 10 and 20 cm. Mean center of pressure at approximate entropy was greater than baseline at 0.5 Hz and amplitude of 20 cm. The results suggest that sinusoidal movement of a realistic VR environment produces altered balance compared with baseline quiet standing, but only under specific movement parameters.

Computer cursor control using electroencephalogram (EEG) signals is a common and well-studied brain-computer interface (BCI). The emphasis of the literature has been primarily on evaluation of the objective measures of assistive BCIs such as accuracy of the neural decoder whereas the subjective measures such as user’s satisfaction play an essential role for the overall success of a BCI. As far as we know, the BCI literature lacks a comprehensive evaluation of the usability of the mind-controlled computer cursor in terms of decoder efficiency (accuracy), user experience, and relevant confounding variables concerning the platform for the public use. To fill this gap, we conducted a two-dimensional EEG-based cursor control experiment among 28 healthy participants. The computer cursor velocity was controlled by the imagery of hand movement using a paradigm presented in the literature named imagined body kinematics (IBK) with a low-cost wireless EEG headset. We evaluated the usability of the platform for different objective and subjective measures while we investigated the extent to which the training phase may influence the ultimate BCI outcome. We conducted pre- and post- BCI experiment interview questionnaires to evaluate the usability. Analyzing the questionnaires and the testing phase outcome shows a positive correlation between the individuals’ ability of visualization and their level of mental controllability of the cursor. Despite individual differences, analyzing training data shows the significance of electrooculogram (EOG) on the predictability of the linear model. The results of this work may provide useful insights towards designing a personalized user-centered assistive BCI.

In recent years, immersive technology tools have burgeoned. After the release of the affordable Oculus Go headset and the Merge Cube, there has been increasing use of virtual, augmented, and extend...

Background: The affective domain describes learning associated with feelings, values, and emotions. Although this domain was first described in the late 1960s, a significant emphasis on skills and knowledge still remains. This prominence is evident despite global concerns about standards of practice and the place for empathy and care in nursing education. The emergence of newer technologies, such as 360° video, provides an opportunity to revisit the design and delivery of affective learning. Method: Using the taxonomy of the affective domain, a 360° video viewed through a virtual reality headset was developed to give nursing and medical students insight on the patient experience and an orientation to the operating room. Results: Careful planning and consideration of how the affective domain can inform design of learning and teaching materials resulted in an engaging and informative learning experience. Being aware of how each level of the domain informs the next is essential to develop effective affective teaching plans. Conclusion: Affective learning traditionally has been difficult to deliver and assess. Technology such as 360° video provides an engaging, reproducible, and consistent platform for delivering a domain of education. [ J Nurs Educ . 2020;59(7):409–412.]

Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology represents a fast-growing field of research and applications for disabled and healthy people, which is a direct communication pathway to translate the neural information into an active command. Owing to the complicated headset structure, low accuracies, extended training periods, and nonstationary noises, BCI still has many challenges that should be dealt with for further facilitation of BCI technology use in daily life. In this study, a simplified synchronized hybrid BCI system is proposed for multiple command control by the electroencephalograph (EEG) signals in the motor cortex. This system can detect the single motor imagery (MI) task, single steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) task, and hybrid MI + SSVEP tasks simultaneously (total ten mental tasks) via 2 EEG channels with high accuracy. The fast independent component analysis algorithm is employed to hybrid signals for obtaining clear EEG signals resulting from denoising. Feature extraction is performed by the wavelet transform, which is extracted by the features in the frequency and time domains. Furthermore, a four-layer convolutional neural network (CNN) is used as a classifier to distinguish different mental tasks. Finally, the hybrid MI + SSVEP system with a simple structure achieves a high accuracy of 95.56%. Additionally, the single MI-based and the SSVEP-based BCI system obtain the classification accuracy of 90.16% and 93.21%, respectively. Experimental results indicate that the synchronized hybrid BCI system could achieve multiple command control with a simple structure. In comparison with the single MI-based and the SSVEP-based BCI system, the hybrid MI + SSVEP BCI system shows a stable performance and higher efficiency. The proposed investigation provides a new method for the multiple command control by a hybrid BCI system. Also, the proposed BCI system offers the possibility of friendly utilization for disabled people because of its reliability, ease of use, and simplified headset structure.

Augmented reality technology is attracting increased attention, given the popularity of the smartphone. The utilisation of the smartphone with AR technology is also enabling mobile augmented reality (MAR) to become accessible. Stereoscopic vision offers users the benefit of depth perception, which can help improve user memory. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect on knowledge retention using MAR with stereoscopic vision. An experiment to compare a stereoscopic-based MAR application and a paper-based manual was designed to test the participants’ knowledge retention on a product part and disassembly process. The developed MAR adopted a smartphone and headset case to provide a stereoscopic view to the user. The experiment consisted of both pre-test and post-test phases where the pre-test phase examined the participant’s knowledge about the product, and the post-test phase focused on how much information the participants could recall. The post-test phase was conducted after 48 h following the pre-test phase since long-term memory required several hours in which to stabilise. The results showed that the MAR group had an advantage over the paper-based manual group for both information retentions having a mean score of 8.89 from the MAR group, compared with 6.33 for the paper-based manual group. Moreover, the MAR group was observed to have fewer errors in the post-test with a mean score of 0.53, whereas the paper-based achieved a score of 2.2. This result indicated that the MAR group and the paper-based manual group had equivalent performance in the completion time without the assistance tool. In addition, MAR had a better mean score for the subjective feedback (usefulness = 4.47, ease of use 4.18 and satisfaction = 4.07).

To help minimise occupational radiation exposure in interventional radiology, we conceptualised a virtual reality-based radiation safety training system to help operators understand complex radiation fields and to avoid high radiation areas through game-like interactive simulations. The preliminary development of the system has yielded results suggesting that the training system can calculate and report the radiation exposure after each training session based on a database precalculated from computational phantoms and Monte Carlo simulations and the position information provided by the Microsoft HoloLens headset. In addition, real-time dose rate and cumulative dose will be displayed to the trainee to help them adjust their practice. This paper presents the conceptual design of the overall hardware and software design, as well as preliminary results to combine HoloLens headset and complex 3D X-ray field spatial distribution data to create a mixed reality environment for safety training purpose in interventional radiology.

Given the prevalence of poor adherence to therapy and the biases of self-reporting across healthcare, we hypothesized that an engaging, personalized therapy may improve adherence and treatment outcomes in the home. We tested this hypothesis in the initial indication of amblyopia, a neurodevelopmental disorder for which available treatments are limited by low adherence. We designed a novel digital therapeutic that modifies patient-selected cinematic content in real-time into therapeutic visual input, while objectively monitoring adherence. The therapeutic design integrated a custom-designed headset that delivers precise visual input to each eye, computational algorithms that apply real-time therapeutic modifications to source content, a cloud-based content management system that enables treatment in the home, and a broad library of licensed content. In a proof-of-concept human study on the therapeutic, we found that amblyopic eye vision improved significantly after 12 weeks of treatment, with higher adherence than that of available treatments. These initial results support the utility of personalized therapy in amblyopia and may have broader relevance for improving treatment outcomes in additional indications.

We present an end-to-end system for real-time environment capture, 3D reconstruction, and stereoscopic view synthesis on a mobile VR headset. Our solution allows the user to use the cameras on their VR headset as their eyes to see and interact with the real world while still wearing their headset, a feature often referred to as Passthrough. The central challenge when building such a system is the choice and implementation of algorithms under the strict compute, power, and performance constraints imposed by the target user experience and mobile platform. A key contribution of this paper is a complete description of a corresponding system that performs temporally stable passthrough rendering at 72 Hz with only 200 mW power consumption on a mobile Snapdragon 835 platform. Our algorithmic contributions for enabling this performance include the computation of a coarse 3D scene proxy on the embedded video encoding hardware, followed by a depth densification and filtering step, and finally stereoscopic texturing and spatio-temporal up-sampling. We provide a detailed discussion and evaluation of the challenges we encountered, as well as algorithm and performance trade-offs in terms of compute and resulting passthrough quality.;AB@The described system is available to users as the Passthrough+ feature on Oculus Quest. We believe that by publishing the underlying system and methods, we provide valuable insights to the community on how to design and implement real-time environment sensing and rendering on heavily resource constrained hardware.

Almost all smartphone-based personal sound amplification applications (PSAPs) do not provide amplification specifications as well as medical hearing aid (HA) products. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to develop an HA-simulator and investigate the possible fitting range of this smartphone-based PSAP app equipped with a commercial headset, and to evaluate whether the aided outcome provides reasonable benefits for individuals with hearing loss by analyzing the Speechmap and speech intelligibility index (SII). An HA-simulator with a four-channel compression structure was developed and evaluated using a smartphone equipped with Apple EarPods. Measurement methods specified by the ANSI S3.22 were used to evaluate the electroacoustic performance of the proposed system. The Speechmap method and SII were used to check if the amplified speech for five different hearing loss configurations. These ANSI S3.22 and Speechmap measurement results were then compared with a digital HA under the same test conditions. The results demonstrated that the proposed HA-simulator system provided an adequate output sound level for patients with mild-to-moderate hearing loss and a tolerable group delay for the user while providing an electroacoustic performance comparable to that of a digital HA based on ANSI S3.22 test criteria. The amplified speech signals presented by Speechmap and the corresponding SII values indicated that the proposed HA-simulator provided benefits comparable to those of medical HA. These results indicate that a smartphone-based HA simulator could provide suitable performance to that of a medical HA, and it potentially aid individuals with hearing loss.

Consumer-grade virtual reality (VR) headset is being used with increasing frequency nowadays, however, the effect on visual function is not clear.We here investigate whether using VR headset changes adults' visual function and take into account the possible factors.We compared the uncorrected distant visual acuity (UDVA), uncorrected near visual acuity (UNVA), best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), low contrast visual acuity (LCVA), glare visual acuity (GVA), refractive error (RE), amplitude of accommodation (ACC), and pupil diameter (PD) before and after using VR headset 10 mintues at a time twice per day for 2 successive weeks in 40 volunteers with a mean age of 28.6 years. Differences in these 8 parameters before vs. after VR headset use were analyzed using SPSS 22.0.In our study, we found that the amplitude of accommodation had significantly increased by 0.53 (F = 5.673;It is discovered that using a consumer-grade VR headset 10 minutes at a time twice daily for 2 weeks improved the amplitude of accommodation of adults dramatically, while neither visual acuity nor refractive error was affected.VR: visual reality; UDVA: uncorrected distant visual acuity; UNVA: uncorrected near visual acuity; BCVA: best corrected visual acuity; LCVA: low contrast visual acuity; GVA: glare visual acuity; RE: refractive error; ACC: amplitude of accommodation; PD: pupil diameter; 3D: three-dimensional; VDTS: visual display terminal syndrome; FOV: field of view; SEQ: spherical equivalent diopter.

Virtual reality (VR) has proven to be a useful tool for conducting human factors research in interface design. With the development and promotion of autonomous vehicle (AV) technology, researchers are focusing on designing different types of interfaces to induce trust in road users toward this new technology. In this article, VR is used to investigate pedestrians’ understanding of proposed designs for external features on AVs. We are also interested in investigating how the presence of an operator inside the vehicle influences pedestrians’ preference for features. VR headset tracking, survey-based responses, and video-recorded body movements are used to collect data on pedestrian responses to three operator statuses and seven feature types. Pedestrians prefer both “walk” in text and verbal message saying safe to cross as clear and comforting features on an AV. They perceive the distracted operator condition as to be an inconvenient situation even for the AV equipped with visual or audible features. Older people find the features more helpful and people with higher innovativeness rate the feature ideas with higher ratings.

International audience; This paper focuses on the dimensioning of a very bright full color 10 μm-pitch light-emitting device (LED) microdisplay for avionics application. Starting from the specifications of head-mounted display to be used in an augmented reality optical system, a theoretical approach is proposed that enables predicting the specifications of the main technology building blocks enteringinto the microdisplay manufacturing process flow. By taking into account various material and technological parameters, kept as realistic as possible, it is possible to assess the feasibility of a very bright LED microdisplay (1 Mcd/m2 full white) and to point out the main limitations. The theoretical specifications are then compared with the technical results obtained so far in the framework of the H2020 Clean Sky “HILICO” project. It shows that 350 000 cd/m2 of white emission may be accessible with the present gallium nitride (GaN)-micro-LED technology provided a color conversion solution with stable external quantum efficiency of 30% is available. Beyond such level of luminance, the inherent limitations of driving circuit (4 V, 15 μA per pixel) commandsworking with materials enabling higher external quantum efficiency (EQE). In particular, 10-μm-pitch micro-LEDs with electroluminescence EQE of 15% and color conversion EQE approaching 60% are needed, opening the way to future challenging material and technology research developments.

Now imagine that Jimmy is wearing a special kind of Google Glass, the augmented-reality headset that Google introduced in 2013. When he looks up at his mom, the head-up display lights up with a green box, which alerts Jimmy that he's "found a face." As he focuses on her face, an emoji pops up, which tells Jimmy, "You found an angry face." He thinks about why his mom might be annoyed. Maybe he should stop what he's doing with the silverware and ask her.

Vision plays a central role in maintaining balance. When humans perceive their body as moving, they trigger counter movements. This results in body sway, which has typically been investigated by measuring the body’s center of pressure (COP). Here, we aimed to induce visually evoked postural responses (VEPR) by simulating self-motion in virtual reality (VR) using a sinusoidally oscillating “moving room” paradigm. Ten healthy subjects participated in the experiment. Stimulation consisted of a 3D-cloud of random dots, presented through a VR headset, which oscillated sinusoidally in the anterior–posterior direction at different frequencies. We used a force platform to measure subjects’ COP over time and quantified the resulting trajectory by wavelet analyses including inter-trial phase coherence (ITPC). Subjects exhibited significant coupling of their COP to the respective stimulus. Even when spectral analysis of postural sway showed only small responses in the expected frequency bands (power), ITPC revealed an almost constant strength of coupling to the stimulus within but also across subjects and presented frequencies. Remarkably, ITPC even revealed a strong phase coupling to stimulation at 1.5 Hz, which exceeds the frequency range that has generally been attributed to the coupling of human postural sway to an oscillatory visual scenery. These findings suggest phase-locking to be an essential feature of visuomotor control.

Drowsiness detection has a significant importance in aviation industry. Electroencephalogram (EEG) has been extensively studied to characterize drowsiness; nevertheless, its behavior with respect to accurately annotated drowsy periods remains to be investigated. At present, Karolinska Sleepiness Scale and psychomotor vigilance task are widely used references for subjective drowsiness analysis. However, their practical application in real-time monitoring of alertness is limited. To address this limitation, we combined Seeing Machines driver monitoring system and electrooculogram (EOG) for localization of microsleep (MS) events and studied EEG spectral behavior during MS events. EEG, EOG, and facial behavior data were recorded simultaneously from 16 commercially rated pilots during simulated flight. Relative spectral power in delta (0.5–4 Hz), theta (4–8 Hz), alpha (8–13 Hz), and beta (13–30 Hz) in frontal, central, temporal, parietal, and occipital brain regions was analyzed. Compared to baseline, delta power reduced during MS (p 0.05). The research findings highlight the capability of EEG delta and alpha spectrum toward characterizing MS events; therefore, with consideration to user acceptability, application toward drowsiness detection is plausible via EEG electrodes embedded in the typical aviation headset.

Virtual reality (VR) headsets are becoming remarkably well-known nowadays, especially in gaming industry. Their ability to immerse users into virtual world makes them captivating. However, there is limited research about the impacts of this technology on our eyes and vision. This study investigated if there is any effect on blink rate (BR) and inter-blink interval (IBI) after 30 minutes of watching 3-dimensional (3D) movie on VR. Besides, this study compares between watching 3D movie on VR headset and 2D movie on laptop. Blinks were recorded over 1 minutes for 32 participants volunteered in this study before and after 30 minutes of watching 3D movie on VR headset and 2D movie on laptop. The result of BR and IBI between pre- and post-watching 3D movie on VR was not significant (p= >0.05). The result between watching movie on laptop and VR also not significant (p= >0.05). Watching 3D movie on VR for 30 minutes resulted in no effects on blink rate and inter-blink interval of the users.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into how augmented reality (AR) technologies are being applied to robotics.Design/methodology/approachFollowing an introduction and a brief historical background to AR, this first provides examples of AR applications in robot programming. It then gives examples of recent research into AR-based robot teleoperation. Research activities involving the virtual fixtures (VF) technique are then discussed and finally, brief conclusions are drawn.FindingsBecause AR concepts were first investigated in the 1990s, applications involving robotics have been widely studied. Programming with the aid of AR devices, such as the HoloLens headset, can be simplified and AR methods, including the VF technique, can improve the accuracy and speed of teleoperation, manipulation and positional control tasks. They can also provide visual or haptic feedback which leads to more intuitive operation and significantly reduces the cognitive load on the operator.Originality/valueThis provides an insight into the growing role of AR in robotics by providing examples of recent research in a range of applications.

Virtual rehabilitation has been used during decades to provide a more personalized, controlled, and enjoyable experience on upper-limb motor rehabilitation. Since novel virtual reality (VR) technologies are now accessible and highly immersive, the challenge for a wide dissemination of virtual rehabilitation in clinical scenarios has shifted from the hardware robustness to the software intelligence. A sophisticated technique that provides physiological intelligence to novel human-computer interaction (HCI) applications is biocybernetic adaptation. The concept emerges from the electrophysiological computing field, and it proposes using body signals to detect human states (e.g. workload or fatigue) and modulate the virtual activity accordingly. This paper evaluates the effects of using biocybernetic adaptation in a virtual rehabilitation game that aims to encourage users to exert at a desirable intensity level while interacting with the virtual environment. The system relies on surface-electromyography (sEMG) signals to detect fatigue levels in real-time and adapt the game challenge dynamically. Perceived fatigue levels, game user experience, and game performance parameters are assessed after playing the game, considering two different visualization modalities: non-immersive (conventional flat screen) and immersive (VR headset). Results revealed how the biocybernetic system in the immersive condition not only produced lower levels of perceived fatigue compared with the non-immersive, but also, created a more enjoyable and positive experience in a controlled experiment with 24 healthy subjects. Moreover, participants in the immersive condition showed a better performance in the virtual game and higher usability levels scored by users compared with the non-immersive condition. To conclude, we highlight the importance of combining novel immersive approaches with physiologically aware systems to enhance the benefits of virtual rehabilitation therapies.

Emotion recognition from electroencephalography (EEG) has been an important research direction in affective brain–computer interactions (ABCI). An integration of EEG-based emotion recognition algorithms in ABCI can make the users experience more complete and engaging. In this paper, we propose a new data representation of electroencephalogram (EEG), which transforms 1D chain-like EEG vector sequences into 2D mesh-like matrix sequences. The mesh structure of the matrix at each time point corresponds to the electrodes’ location of EEG headset, which could better represent the spatial correlation of EEG signals among multiple physically adjacent electrodes. Then, the sliding window is used to divide the 2D matrix sequences into segments containing equal time points, and each segment is seen as an EEG sample integrating the temporal and spatial correlation of raw EEG recordings. We also propose both cascaded and parallel hybrid convolution recurrent neural networks to accurately predict the emotional category of each EEG sample. Extensive binary emotion classification experiments in valence and arousal are carried out on a large scale DEAP dataset (32 subjects, 9,830,400 EEG recordings). The experimental results demonstrate that the classification accuracies of both proposed hybrid networks on our spatial–temporal EEG representation achieve over 93%, which outperform the most recent baseline methods and other deep learning models in within-subject validation scenario. Our proposed methods and hybrid models effectively improve the accuracy and robustness of EEG emotion classification, which can be applied to develop affective BCI applications using consumer multi-electrode EEG headset.

This review assesses the risk of a photic-induced seizure in a child during viewing of 3D (binocular 3 dimensional, stereoscopic) movies or games, either on standard video displays or when wearing a virtual reality (VR) headset. Studies published by pediatric epilepsy experts emphasize the low risk of 3D viewing even for children with known photosensitive epilepsy (PSE). The low incidence of PSE is noteworthy because the number of hours devoted to 2D or 3D screen viewing and/or VR headset use by children worldwide has increased markedly over the last decade. The medical literature does not support the notion that VR headset use poses a risk for PSE.

There is a close relationship between urban green space and the physical and mental health of individuals. Most previous studies have discussed the impact of the structure of green space and its elements. This study focused on the emotional changes caused by common behaviors in urban green space (walking and sitting). We recruited 40 college students and randomly assigned them to walking and sitting groups (20 students per group). The two groups performed the same 8-min high-pressure learning task indoors and then performed 8-min recovery activities in a simulated urban green space (a bamboo-lawn space). We used the Emotiv EPOC+ EEG headset to dynamically measure six neural emotional parameters: “engagement,” “valence,” “meditation,” “frustration,” “focus,” and “excitement.” We conducted a pretest and posttest and used analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to analyze the posttest data (with the pretest data as covariates). The results of the comparison of the two behaviors showed that the “valence” and “meditation” values of the walking group were higher than those of the sitting group, which suggests that walking in urban green space is more favorable for stress reduction. The sitting group had a higher “focus” value than did the walking group, which suggests that sitting in urban green space is better for attention restoration. The results of this study can provide guidance for urban green space planning and design as well as health guidance for urban residents.

The article presents an analysis of the dynamics of interaction of a single fiber with the sampling drum of a headset during pneumomechanical spinning. The regularity is investigated and the equation of the movement of fibers on the surface of the tooth of the sampling drum headset is obtained. It was found that the dependences of the movement of fibers along the tooth at different angles of inclination, the distribution of fiber tension along the arc, and the distribution of fiber speeds in the region of the sampling arc have an increase property. As a result of the analysis of the tension and speed of the fibers, it was found that with the increase in the sampling zone, the tension force and speed of the fiber increase.

This paper introduces an intelligent system that can manipulate an industrial robot using the electroencephalogram signals of human brains to perform collaborative assembly tasks. The system is initiated by capturing the brain signals using a wearable headset, and the signals are then filtered to remove any possible artifact. Consequently, the process continues by identifying the brain signals patterns using a classifier based on pre-recorded samples. The classifier’s output determines the proper matching of the robot command that is intended by the human. To validate the results, an industrial collaborative assembly scenario of a car manifold is examined as a case study.

Research in multimodal interfaces aims to provide immersive solutions and to increase overall human performance. A promising direction is to combine auditory, visual and haptic interaction between the user and the simulated environment. However, no extensive comparison exists to show how combining audiovisuohaptic interfaces would affect human perception and by extent reflected on task performance. Our paper explores this idea and presents a thorough, full-factorial comparison of how all combinations of audio, visual and haptic interfaces affect performance during manipulation. We evaluated how each combination affects the performance in a study ( $N=25$ ) consisting of manipulation tasks with various difficulties. The overall performance was assessed using both subjective measures, by assessing cognitive workload and system usability, and objective measurements, by incorporating time and spatial accuracy-based metrics. The results showed that regardless of task complexity, the combination of stereoscopic-vision with the virtual reality headset increased performance across all measurements by 40%, compared to monocular-vision from a generic display monitor. Besides, using haptic feedback improved outcomes by 10% and auditory feedback accounted for approximately 5% improvement.

In this article, we explore the performance of optical wireless technology for ensuring audio communications inside an aircraft cockpit. One advantage is that, unlike radio frequencies, opaque objects block optical signals and, therefore, signals cannot pass through walls. This can reduce security risks against eavesdropping and hacking of the physical layer, which is one of the main concerns in the aviation environment. However, optical wireless technology faces some issues, including range limitation and sensitivity to blockages. To study the achievable performances, we propose a modeling of the channels for the uplink and the downlink between the headsets of the four pilots of an Airbus A350 and the access point at the cockpit ceiling. A ray-tracing approach associated with a Monte-Carlo method takes into account the 3D geometric model of the cockpit, the presence of the pilots and their movements. We show that using spatial diversity for headset transceivers can improve performance. Using IEEE 802.11 medium access control mechanism to ensure multi-user communication, the approach highlights the trade-offs between power and delay for a successful communication, linked to the maximum achievable data rate for a given performance level.

A room-scale virtual reality (VR) configuration allows users to physically walk within an interactive area while reflecting their real-world motion in the virtual environment. Room-scale VR provides developers of serious games and virtual simulations the opportunity to develop more realistic applications that are highly interactive and engaging. Despite these benefits, room-scale VR hardware is generally more expensive due to motion tracking and headset costs, also requiring a potentially large open physical space for the player to walk around in. Here we provide a quantitative and qualitative comparison between the usability, performance, and engagement of traditional seated VR with a room-scale variation within the scope of a medical-based epidural preparation serious game. This is a first-step in examining the differences between the two configurations and determining whether the additional requirements and resources associated with a room-scale VR configuration are warranted. Although our quantitative results reveal limited differences, the room scale VR configuration led to higher immersion. Our qualitative results indicate that the hardware being used and the requirements imposed upon it by the desired fidelity of the simulation must be carefully considered; higher fidelity implies greater computational requirements that may not be readily available to the average computer user.

I this paper I will discuss about the experience of wearing head-mounted device for extended reality and will compare it to the experience of wearing glasses. If for a long time the screens were compared to windows for their quality of extension, today we could compare them to glasses as they altered our vision by making us perceive a new environment. Through the presentation of the process of use of the device, the optical and sensory principles and concepts playing in it, as well as a discussion around the encounter of the virtual environment, I will try to show that at the end the device is just simply another type of glasses that shows us another environment.

В статье приведено описание проекта по созданию гарнитуры для обеспечения биологической обратной связи по сердечному ритму при прохождении тренингов в виртуальной реальности (VR). Основной акцент сделан на значимости такой разработки для лечения фобий - в силу низкой эффективности и безопасности существующих методов. Также разрабатываемая нейрогарнитура может быть применена и для любых VR-сценариев, что позволит сделать их более безопасными и эффект погружения более сильным за счёт контроля состояния человека в режиме реального времени. Массовые страхи и индивидуальные фобии изучаются учёными уже более 30 лет. За это время структура общественного беспокойства существенно изменилась, а структура персональных опасений осталась во многом той же. Люди опасаются неведомого, болезни, болей, неприятных насекомых и много другого. Терапия фобий встречается с различными затруднениями прежде всего в сфере организации условий воспроизведения переживания страха. Тренажеры с использованием виртуальной и дополненной реальности (VR/AR) в процессе терапии различных фобий находят всё более широкое применение в России и за рубежом. Применение технологий AR/VR для разрешения психологических проблем позволяет снизить риск неконтролируемого протекания стресса при переживании ситуаций, схожих с реальными условиями развития фобии (подъём на высоту, контакт с насекомыми и змеями, нахождение в замкнутом пространстве). Особые возможности эти тренажеры предоставляют для обучения человека правильному поведению в ситуациях, связанных с опасными условиями, техногенными и природными катастрофами (пожар, ураган, землетрясение), которые невозможно повторить в учебных/лабораторных условиях. Стоимость проведения тренинга с AR/VR существенно снижается по сравнению с использованием или имитацией реальных условий и напрямую зависит от комплектации нейроинтерфейса для замера биологической обратной связи и затрат на разработку аудиовизуального контента. Наиболее доступными формами тренинга может служить воспроизведение виртуальной или дополненной реальности на экране компьютера или специальных очков, но наибольший эффект достигается при применении шлема виртуальной реальности. Измерение биологической обратной связи при прохождении тренинга виртуальной реальности необходимо для оценки уровня стресса участника. Разработка разветвлённого сценария тренинга для синхронизации с замерами состояния пользователя позволит наилучшим образом использовать все возможности, которые предоставляет использование нейроинтерфейса в комплексе с гарнитурой для воспроизведения AR/VR., Mass fears and individual phobias have been studied by scientists for more than 30 years. During this time, the structure of public anxiety has changed significantly, while the structure of personal fears has remained largely the same. People are afraid of the unknown, illness, pain, unpleasant insects, and much more. Therapy of phobias meets with various difficulties, first, in the sphere of the organization of conditions of reproduction of the experience of fear. Simulators using virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) in the therapy of various phobias are increasingly being used in Russia and abroad. The use of AR/VR technologies to solve psychological problems allows reducing the risk of uncontrollable stress when experiencing situations like the real conditions of phobia development (climbing to heights, contact with insects and snakes, being in a confined space). These simulators provide special opportunities for teaching appropriate behavior in situations involving dangerous conditions, man-made and natural disasters (fire, hurricane, earthquake), which cannot be repeated in the classroom/laboratory conditions. The cost of training with AR/VR is significantly reduced compared to the use or simulation of real conditions and directly depends on the configuration of a neuro-interface for biofeedback measurement and the cost of development of audio-visual content. The most accessible forms of training can be reproduction of virtual or augmented reality on the computer screen or special glasses, but the greatest effect is achieved when a virtual reality helmet is used. Measurement of biofeedback while undergoing virtual reality training is necessary to assess the participant's stress level. The development of a branched training scenario to synchronize with the user's state measurements will allow making the best use of all the opportunities provided using a neuro-interface in combination with a headset for AR/VR playback., Вестник психофизиологии, Выпуск 4 2022

Blind people have limited physical condition. This condition makes the blind use sticks as a guide in their daily activities. With advances in technology, the stick used was replaced with a device used on the wrist by using an ultrasonic sensor and Arduino Promini 328. The ultrasonic sensor works by utilizing ultrasonic waves as transmitters and calculating distances with differences in time difference. Ultrasonic sensor sensitivity from 2 cm to 200 cm. The data processor used was the Arduino Pro Mini 328 microcontroller and the Esp8266 nodemcu with input in the form of sound issued by the Raspberry Pi. Raspberry pi is placed in the user's pocket and connected to the headset to give a warning when the ultrasonic sensor is active. This tool can also detect a distance of 45 cm ahead and 65 cm down.

A mind PC interface (BCI) is a direct neural interface between a human or creature cerebrum and an outer world. In this paper the framework is exhibited in which wheelchair is controlled utilizing EEG signals acquired from the human mind. The Neurosky item for example mind wave gadget headset is utilized to quantify the human brainwave signals. The sign are then mapped and contrasted and the reference estimation of consideration and reflection level alongside squinting eye signal. The wheelchair moves in various ways and can be controlled successfully utilizing contemplations of the individual correctly. So the human capacity is utilized successfully to control the given wheelchair utilizing precision of about 95%.

Myocardial contraction is triggered whenever a wave of electrical impulses passes through the heart. The pattern of electrical excitation spreads coordinately over the structure of the heart. This results in a measurable change in potential across the surface of the body of a subject. The recording of the resultant signal from specific body points is known as an electrocardiogram (ECG). Students can directly record an ECG signal from the headset input of a smartphone with an electric lead and a suitable sound app. This allows interdisciplinary teaching by applying physics concepts to physiology.

Voice-over-IP (VoIP) software are among the most widely spread and pervasive software, counting millions of monthly users. However, we argue that people ignore the drawbacks of transmitting information along with their voice, such as keystroke sounds—as such sound can reveal what someone is typing on a keyboard. In this article, we present and assess a new keyboard acoustic eavesdropping attack that involves VoIP, called Skype & Type ( S&T ). Unlike previous attacks, S&T assumes a weak adversary model that is very practical in many real-world settings. Indeed, S&T is very feasible, as it does not require (i) the attacker to be physically close to the victim (either in person or with a recording device) and (ii) precise profiling of the victim’s typing style and keyboard; moreover, it can work with a very small amount of leaked keystrokes. We observe that leakage of keystrokes during a VoIP call is likely, as people often “multi-task” during such calls. As expected, VoIP software acquires and faithfully transmits all sounds, including emanations of pressed keystrokes, which can include passwords and other sensitive information. We show that one very popular VoIP software (Skype) conveys enough audio information to reconstruct the victim’s input—keystrokes typed on the remote keyboard. Our results demonstrate that, given some knowledge on the victim’s typing style and keyboard model, the attacker attains top-5 accuracy of 91.7% in guessing a random key pressed by the victim. This work extends previous results on S&T , demonstrating that our attack is effective with many different recording devices (such as laptop microphones, headset microphones, and smartphones located in proximity of the target keyboard), diverse typing styles and speed, and is particularly threatening when the victim is typing in a known language.

Robotic laparoscopic surgery has provided various benefits, but during the surgery, the surgeons are experiencing uncomfortable positioning issue which leads to neck pain and back pain. So, for an enhanced & efficient ergonomic robot-assisted surgery, a novel virtual reality (VR)-based endoscope control system (ECS) is proposed in this research. The overall system in this study is composed of a da Vinci research kit (dVRK), 4-degree-of-freedom ECS, three-dimensional endoscope, and VR headset with a built-in attitude and heading reference system (AHRS) module. Also, the proposed VR headset could replace a stereo viewer in the dVRK which could reduce the size of surgical robot system. Furthermore, the three dimensional endoscope could be controlled by a built-in AHRS module in the VR headset. The proposed system has been verified with four novice volunteers. They showed rapid learning through the peg-transfer task. Additionally, a collision avoidance strategy for VR-based ECS control was developed and verified by performing computer-based simulations. The ergonomic VR-based ECS proposed in this research could greatly reduce surgeon’s pains in both neck and back which potentially reduce surgeon’s workload during the surgery.

Recent advances in technology bring about novel operating environments where the role of human participants is reduced to passive observation. While opening new frontiers in productivity and lifestyle, such environments also create hazards related to the inability of human individuals to maintain focus and concentration during passive control tasks. A passive brain-computer interface for monitoring mental attention states of human individuals (focused, unfocused, and drowsy) by using electroencephalographic (EEG) brain activity imaging and machine learning data analysis methods is developed in this work. An EEG data processing pipeline and a machine learning mental state detection algorithm using the Support Vector Machine (SVM) method were designed and compared with k-Nearest Neighbor and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy System methods. To collect 25 h of EEG data from 5 participants, a classic EEG headset was modified. We found that the changes in EEG activity in frontal and parietal lobes occurring at 1–5 Hz and 10–15 Hz frequency bands were associated with the changes in individuals’ attention state. We demonstrated the ability to use such changes to identify individuals’ attention state with 96.70% (best) and 91.72% (avg.) accuracy in experimental settings using a version of continuous performance task with SVM-based mental state detector. The findings help guide the design of future systems for monitoring the state of human individuals by means of EEG brain activity data.

This study was completed to validate a virtual reality (VR) headset (HTC ViveTM, Taiwan) as a tool to measure postural sway using the position and orientation tracking capabilities built into the VR system. If validated, the headset could be a cost-effective tool for balance assessments. Unity was used to develop an optical flow environment for VR. Study participants were able to experience three different speeds of optical flow displayed through the HTC Vive headset. However, for this study, participants were shown a scene in the virtual environment that did not move, causing no optical flow for the participant. A force plate and VR headset recorded position measurements during each trial. The Pearson correlation coefficients between the headset and the force plate data measurements were calculated in MATLAB, along with the root-mean-squared and peak-to-peak values for each trial. Results show that correlations in the AP plane tended to be greater than 0.4 and correlation in the ML plane tended to be greater than 0.6. The VR headset may be used for postural control measurements in clinic. However, further development of software and testing protocols for balance assessments is needed.

In this paper we present details of a virtual tour and game for VR\ud headset that are designed to investigate an interactive and engaging\ud approach of applying VR to student recruitment for an undergraduate course. The VR tour employs a floating menu to navigate\ud through a set of 360◦ panoramic photographs of the teaching environment and uses hotspot interaction to display further information\ud about the course. The VR game is a fast-paced shooting game. The\ud course information is embedded on cubes that the player needs to\ud focus on and destroy. The game experience is expected to generate\ud an engaging way to promote the course. This work in progress outlines the concept and development of the prototype, and discusses\ud the next stages of testing in order to evaluate the effectiveness of\ud applying VR to undergraduate student recruitment.

Proximity interaction, such as hugging, plays an essential role in building relationships between parents and children. However, parents and children cannot freely interact in the neonatal intensive care unit due to visiting restrictions imposed by COVID-19. In this study, we develop a system of pseudo-proximity interaction with a remote infant through a VR headset by using an infant-like device that reproduces the haptic feedback features of the hugging sensation, such as weight, body temperature, breathing, softness, and unstable neck.

Immersive head-mounted augmented reality allows users to overlay 3D digital content on a user’s view of the world. Current-generation devices primarily support interaction modalities such as gesture, gaze and voice, which are readily available to most users yet lack precision and tactility, rendering them fatiguing for extended interactions. We propose using smartphones, which are also readily available, as companion devices complementing existing AR interaction modalities. We leverage user familiarity with smartphone interactions, coupled with their support for precise, tactile touch input, to unlock a broad range of interaction techniques and applications - for instance, turning the phone into an interior design palette, touch-enabled catapult or AR-rendered sword. We describe a prototype implementation of our interaction techniques using an off-the-shelf AR headset and smartphone, demonstrate applications, and report on the results of a positional accuracy study.

BACKGROUND: The speech recognition levels of cochlear implant (CI) users are still incompatible with ICAO hearing requirements for civil aviation pilots testing in the noisy background condition of the helicopter cockpit. In this study, we evaluated noise attenuation effects on speech recognition in the same background condition.METHODS: The study involved the evaluation of 12 Portuguese-speaking CI users with post-lingual deafness and with a pure tone average up to 35 dB HL between 500 and 2000 Hz and up to 50 dB at 3000 Hz on at least one of the ears, and of three normal hearing pilots (controls). We performed speech recognition tests using sentences, numbers, and disyllables for all participants through the VHF radio. The assessment took place inside a helicopter with engine on, using three setups: 1) with headset without the active noise cancellation; 2) activating the noise cancellation system of the headset itself; and 3) connecting the speech processor directly to the helicopter radio system.RESULTS: The headset active noise-cancellation improved only the recognition of sentences. The direct connection system compared to the headset without anti-noise attenuation significantly improved all the recognition tests. The median for numbers was 90%, but the best score for disyllables recognition was 56%.DISCUSSION: The noise attenuation resources proposed in this study improved the CI users’ speech recognition when exposed to the noisy helicopter cockpit. However, speech recognition of CI users still did not meet the standards of ICAO, which requires at least 80% for understanding disyllables in the speech in noise test.Caldeira JMA, Goffi-Gomez MVS, Imamura R, Bento RF. Noise attenuation effects on speech recognition of cochlear implant users inside helicopters. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2021; 92(11):880–885.

In this paper, a metasurface-based waveguide display equipped with an eye movement monitoring system is presented. In the suggested device, the functions of the eye movement system and AR are completely independent of each other and are designed in two separate sections at wavelengths 775 nm and 635 nm respectively. In the next part, in order to investigate the effects of the shape of the waveguide on FOV and efficiency, a multifunctional display system comprise of a single rectangular waveguide with two sensitive polarization channels are designed to operate as an AR and eye movement monitoring system simultaneously at visible and IR wavelengths respectively. In both devices, monitoring eye movements can be done over the range of -24º to 24º and the digital images are displaced in the user’s FOV based on horizontal eye positions. Although the first suggested system is heavier than one, its FOV is almost more than twice of the second system. The results indicate that metasurface-based waveguide technology can be considered as an appropriate platform for developing wearable eye movement systems.

In this chapter, we discuss Bluetooth history, Bluetooth physical layer specifications, CORDIC theory, and digital filtering, carrier and timing recovery. Bluetooth history may be traced back to 1994 when Ericsson came up with a concept to use a wireless connection to connect items such as an earphone and a cordless headset and the mobile phone. The idea behind Bluetooth (it was not yet called Bluetooth) was developed further as the possibilities of interconnections with a variety of other peripherals such as computers printers, phones and more were realized, so it was decided that in order to enable the technology to move forward and be accepted as an industry standard it was needed to be opened up. Accordingly, in Feb 1998, five companies (Ericsson, Nokia, IBM, Toshiba and Intel) formed a Special Interest Group (SIG). Three months later in May 1998, Bluetooth1.1 was publicly announced. Later more members were added to the group with four new companies, Motorola, Microsoft, Lucent and 3Com, joining the group.

The Open Perimetry Initiative was formed in 2010 with the aim of reducing barriers to clinical research with visual fields and perimetry. Our two principal tools are the Open Perimetry Interface (OPI) and the visualFields package with analytical tools. Both are fully open source. The OPI package contains a growing number of drivers for commercially available perimeters, head-mounted devices, and virtual reality headsets. The visualFields package contains tools for the analysis and visualization of visual field data, including methods to compute deviation values and probability maps. We introduce a new frontend, the opiApp, that provides tools for customization for visual field testing and can be used as a frontend to run the OPI. The app can be used on the Octopus 900 (Haag-Streit), the Compass (iCare), the AP 7000 (Kowa), and the IMO (CREWT) perimeters, with permission from the device manufacturers. The app can also be used on Android phones with virtual reality headsets via a new driver interface, the PhoneHMD, implemented on the OPI. The use of the tools provided by the OPI library is showcased with a custom static automated perimetry test for the full visual field (up to 50 degrees nasally and 80 degrees temporally) developed with the OPI driver for the Octopus 900 and using visualFields for statistical analysis. With more than 60 citations in clinical and translational science journals, this initiative has contributed significantly to expand research in perimetry. The continued support of researchers, clinicians, and industry are key in transforming perimetry research into an open science.