A VR-Based Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapeutic Game

Abstract

Vestibular impairment is often mistaken for just dizziness. Diagnosis and treatment, starting as soon as possible and repeated several times, are essential for returning to a normal life. However, it is a long process in which patients tend to get tired and bored with the exercises they have to perform and eventually lose interest in doing them. There are three fundamental exercises for this treatment: horizontal movements, vertical movements, and diagonal movements. These exercises are to be performed with head movements, accompanied with gaze stabilization techniques. This paper focus on the development of Virtual Reality Serious Games that can be played at home with a smartphone and a virtual reality headset, simulating the exercises recommended by therapists. Therefore, it becomes possible to provide patients a helpful strategy to perform the required activities while having fun at the same time. Through the means of the smartphone's sensors to detect the person's movements, users can play the three task-oriented games that were specifically developed to simulate each exercise mentioned. Finally, all the information regarding the user's gameplay is uploaded to a backoffice system, which enables therapists to track and analyze patients’ progress over time.