A Preliminary Study Investigating the Acquisition of valid qEEG Data While Wearing a Virtual Reality (VR) Headset

The use of virtual reality (VR) therapy is being utilized and promoted for a wide range of treatment applications. Yet, the majority of clinical evidence that supports the efficacy of VR treatment has been established utilizing reports of subjective outcome variables, such as rating scales or a reduction of symptoms reported by the patient. Instead, the present study supports the use of quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) as a more precise and objective method for assessing treatment efficacy involving the use of VR-based treatments. Although a few studies have attempted to establish physiological evidence from qEEG recordings to strengthen the efficacy of pre-post treatment effects for VR-based treatments, these attempts have been based upon very small sample sizes or case studies. Therefore, to the best of our knowledge, prior studies have failed to uniformly account for ingenuine treatment effects that could arise from merely wearing a VR headset while acquiring qEEG. The current preliminary study sought to systematically measure any potential confounding effects that wearing a VR headset could produce by measuring and comparing the baseline qEEG recordings for the eyes-open, resting condition (staring at a dot) with and without the VR headset for 28 participants. The present results revealed very minimal significant differences between the two conditions when analyzed collectively and no significant differences for the male participants. The implications of these findings are discussed and provide preliminary support for confidently reporting qEEG efficacy data involving the use of a VR headset. Additionally, the current study is believed to have successfully established a valid and standardized approach for reliably obtaining active or real-time qEEG data while wearing a VR headset in order to confidently report the physiological effects of VR immersion on electrical brain activity.