Mobility impaired users respond differently than healthy users in virtual environments

Virtual environments (VEs) have been shown to be beneficial in physical rehabilitation, increasing motivation and the range of exercises that can be safely performed. However, little is known about how disabilities may impact a user's responses to a VE, which could affect rehabilitation motivation. Thus, the primary objective of this research is to understand how VEs affect users with mobility impairments (MI). Specifically, we investigate the influence of full body avatars that have canes. To begin investigating this, we designed a VE that included a range of multimodal feedback to induce a strong sense of presence and was novel to the participants. Using this VE, we conducted a study with two different populations: eight persons with MI and eight healthy persons as a control. The healthy participants were of similar demographics (e.g., age, weight, height, and previous VE experience) to the participants with MI who walked with a cane (i.e., on the basis of strict selection criteria to maintain homogeneity). This is one of the first studies to investigate how a VE can affect the gait of the users with MI, physiological response, presence, behavior, and the influence of avatars. Results of the study suggest generalizable guidelines for the design of VEs for users with MI. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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