Virtual reality is becoming more and more popular among older adults. Could the next innovation allow them to experience VR from their smartphone?
A full-color, three-dimensional display can be generated off of a smartphone screen, according to new research.
Such a breakthrough would make it even easier, and cost-effective, for senior living providers to offer VR and augmented reality content for residents or allow for new telehealth opportunities.
The technology would involve only a smartphone screen and a second screen called a “spatial light modulator” to create the multi-layered image.
In another potential benefit to older adults, the new smartphone-generated three-dimensional display could be easier on the eyes than the current visual displays used with current VR headset technology, the researchers said.
The next phase of the research would be to look at how to make larger images, or use more layers — only thinly separated — to create more detailed images with objects at various depths.
Although the researchers explained how the images would be created, because the research is in the earlier stages, it remains unclear how technology would compare in terms of creating a fully immersive experience, which is something that current VR technology aims to provide.
VR innovations already have taken some systems away from heavy helmet-like devices and more toward VR “goggles,” such as the VIVE eyewear used by Mynd Immersive for its VR programs aimed for senior living residents.
Promising uses for VR in the senior living market range from entertainment, to broader social hub such as the “Elderverse” concept, to more clinical purposes. Just a 10-minute VR session in a calming environment could help alleviate pain in older adults with cancer, the McKnight’s Tech Daily reported earlier this week.
