POMPANO BEACH, Fla. — Retired Army Colonel Farrell Patrick taught computer science at West Point in the 1970s and then at two private universities in the 1990s, so he’s not surprised by the advances the technology has made in recent decades.
But when the 91-year-old recently had his first virtual reality experience, he was amazed. Sitting in a conference room at John Knox Village, a retirement community in the suburbs of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Patrick sat up as his eyes and ears experienced what it would be like to be in a Navy fighter jet flying off the coast of Florida.
“Oh my God, that’s beautiful,” he blurted before the VR program brought the plane in for a landing on an aircraft carrier.
John Knox Village was one of 17 senior communities across the country that participated in a recently published study from Stanford University that found that a large majority of 245 participants between the ages of 65 and 103 enjoyed virtual reality, improving both their emotions and their interactions improved with the staff.
The research is part of a larger effort to adapt VR so that it can benefit the health and emotional well-being of seniors and help reduce the impact dementia has on some of them.
During testing, seniors could choose from seven-minute virtual experiences such as skydiving, riding in a tank, watching stage performances, playing with puppies and kittens or visiting places like Paris or Egypt. The participants wore headphones that gave them a 360-degree view and sound, making it feel like they were almost immersed in the actual experience.
“It brought back memories of my travels and… brought back memories of my experience growing up on a farm,” said Terry Colli, former public relations director at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC, of his 2022 experience Colli, 76, enjoyed spinning around in a chair to get a panoramic view. “That was pretty amazing.”
Anne Selby, a 79-year-old retired consultant and artist, found that VR “stimulated almost every part of my brain, all the senses.”
“I especially liked the pet-related topics because I have a cat and have had pets most of my life,” she said.
The peer-reviewed study from Stanford, in collaboration with the company Mynd Immersive, found that almost 80% of seniors reported having a more positive attitude after their VR session and almost 60% said they felt less socially isolated. The pleasure decreased slightly among the older respondents, whose vision and hearing had deteriorated. Those who liked VR less were also more likely to dislike technology in general.
Additionally, nearly 75% of caregivers said residents’ mood improved after using VR. More than 80% of residents and nearly 95% of caregivers said talking about their VR experience improved their relationships with each other.
“For the majority of our respondents, it was their first time using virtual reality. They enjoyed it. They would probably recommend it to others, and they were looking forward to doing it again,” said Ryan Moore, a PhD student at Stanford who helped lead the study.
“We are proving that VR is a tool that truly helps the well-being of our seniors,” said Chris Brickler, CEO and co-founder of Mynd. The Texas-based company is one of the few that specializes in virtual reality for seniors. “It’s very different from a two-dimensional television or an iPad.”
Separately from the research, John Knox Village uses virtual reality in its unit where seniors living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia live. It helps trigger memories that lead to conversations with healthcare providers.
“It’s like they come back to life when they tell their story.” said Hana Salem, the facility’s meaningful life coordinator. She said others who don’t talk much perk up when given a VR experience by placing them in nature.
“They’ll start laughing and say, ‘Ooh, I’m going to catch the butterflies,’” Salem said. Catching butterflies is also part of a game Mynd developed that helps seniors improve their mobility and flexibility while standing and reaching for their hand. objects.
“It’s more fun for these seniors to come in and catch butterflies and work on shoulder rehab than it is to lift a weight,” Brickler said.
Brickler said his company’s systems will soon be linked to Google Earth so seniors can virtually visit the neighborhoods they’ve lived in, the schools they’ve attended and the places they’ve visited, which could lead to further conversations with health care providers to have.
Such virtual visits “can bring back a tremendous amount of joy and a tremendous amount of memories. And when the therapist or the other caregiver can work with that older adult and discuss the things that we’re seeing, we definitely see that it has an uplifting effect,” Brickler said.
The company has been working on the biggest complaints seniors in the survey had about VR: the headsets were too heavy, the heat they generated made their foreheads sweat and sometimes the experience caused nausea, he said. The new headsets weigh about 189 grams instead of a pound (454 grams), they have a built-in fan for cooling, and the videos aren’t as choppy.
The findings that seniors in their 80s and 90s enjoy VR less than seniors in their 70s could lead to changes for them, such as requiring less neck rotation to see all the scenery and making the images larger, Moore said.
On a recent afternoon at John Knox, a handful of independently living seniors used virtual reality again. Pete Audet experienced what it would be like to fly in a wingsuit, flying over beautiful mountains before landing in a field.
“Oooh, run stop!” exclaimed Audet, a 76-year-old retired IT worker. He thinks other seniors “will really enjoy it. But they just have to learn how to use it.”
His wife Karen was ‘playing’ with puppies and was so enthralled with her virtual walk through Paris that she didn’t hear any questions being asked of her.
“I was there. But I was here!” said Karen Audet, an 82-year-old retired elementary school teacher.
Farrell, the retired Army computer expert, said he hopes to live to be 100 because he believes the next five years will see a huge change in VR. He is still a technology enthusiast and believes that the cost of systems will drop dramatically and become part of everyday life, even for seniors.
“It won’t be as elementary as it is now. It will be very realistic and very responsive,” he said. “It’s probably connected to your brain.”
