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No degradation of visuomotor function seen in children after 3-D VR use
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WASHINGTON — Researchers found no degradation of visual or motor function and no noteworthy harmful effects in children using 3-D virtual reality technology under study for its effect on visuomotor function, postural stability and visually induced motion sickness.
“Our results suggest that industry-wide manufacturer warnings against use of VR in young children are unfounded,” Larry Tychsen, MD, said at the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus meeting. Such manufacturer warnings are a roadblock to advancing development of virtual reality technology as a tool to help special needs children, particularly those with cerebral palsy with gaze apraxia.
To date, Tychsen and colleagues have studied the effects of immersive 3-D VR in children aged 4 to 10 years with corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) of 20/50 or better, stereoacuity of 3,000 arc seconds or better, no major neurobehavioral disorders, and previous electronic game-playing experience but no previous exposure to VR headset use.
Head movement controlled flight movement in the flying scenario of the video game because head motion in simulators is known to induce visual motion sickness, Tychsen said.
Baseline testing was followed by 30 minutes of game playing, then intertrial testing, another 30 minutes of game playing and final posttrial testing.
Main measures were CDVA, refractive error, stereovision, alignment, balance and a query for motion sickness adapted for children.
Ninety-two percent of children completed both parts of the trials. There was no degradation of visuomotor measures. Balance degraded a mean of 8%, which was statistically significant (P = .05), “but was not noticeable to either the examiner or the parents,” Tychsen said. There was a nonsignificant increase in visual-induced motion sickness and no reported aftereffects. – by Patricia Nale, ELS
Reference:
Tychsen L. Effects of immersive virtual reality viewing on young children: visuomotor function, postural stability and visually induced motion sickness. Presented at: American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus meeting; March 18-22, 2018; Washington.
Disclosure: Tychsen reports he is a consultant to Microsoft Corp.
Perspective
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Roberto Warman, MD
The presentation by Larry Tychsen is timely and necessary. The industry manufacturing warnings against the use of virtual reality in young children have no scientific basis and are outdated. They persist as a potential litigious issue only, but as a secondary effect can dissuade well-intentioned solid research protocols from proceeding forward. His data are reassuring and should pave the way for further studies utilizing virtual reality prototypes to study binocularity, effect on amblyopia treatment, including use of dichoptic presentations, and others. Whether these approaches are really superior to traditional amblyopia treatments remains to be proven and, without doubt, further refinements in instrumentation, presentation and keeping children engaged adequately are necessary before adopting them in our clinical armamentarium to treat amblyopia. But the initial research certainly is encouraging, and this study should allow a decrease on barriers to further research in a wider based population.
As a separate note, it will also allow further studies to determine if all the intense use of virtual reality games coupled with other intense smartphone and other game technology will have any harmful or detrimental effect on users. Presently we have mostly speculation, and proponents of certain visual therapies or of restrictions in time of use are making recommendations without sufficient data to proceed in such fashion.
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