Virtual reality for people with dementia

Video game developers from Melbourne have created a virtual forest, complete with birds, bees and butterflies, to engage people living with dementia.

Alzheimer’s Australia Victoria has partnered with Opaque Multimedia to head the project, which has become the first serious application of advanced gaming program Unreal Engine 4 in Australia.

Using the latest video game technology, The Virtual Forest Project has the ability to offer stimulating sensory environments directly from the living room.

The Australian aged care industry is well schooled in the benefits of sensory therapy. Outdoor areas in numerous facilities have been transformed into ‘sensory gardens’ offering safe and tactile environments for the disabled, visually impaired and people with dementia to relax, meditate and enjoy nature.

The Virtual Forest Project cannot simulate the natural world for all five senses, but what it can do is create a hyper-reality, allowing users to stretch the parameters of their new environment through organic interaction.

There is no console, but with a wave of the arm users can affect the wildlife, weather and time of their virtual world.

Alzheimer’s Australia Victoria learning and development manager David Sykes said the immersive experience gives back some of the power that dementia takes away.

“As their condition progresses, they don’t have control over a lot of things,” Mr Sykes said.

“This allows them control.”

The Virtual Forest Project did not reach its target in the crowd-funding campaign of March, but project organiser and Alzheimer’s Australia Vic business development manager Dr Tanya Petrovich said most of the contributors honoured their pledge, bringing them half way to their goal of $90 thousand.

Dr Petrovich said part of the money will go towards research to help steer developments of The Virtual Forest Project.

“We want more realism, more interaction, more fidelity," she said.

“Analysis of user interaction will determine which direction we go in next.

“It might be a beach scene or it might be a virtual kitchen. The possibilities are endless.”

Dr Petrovich said the game is foremost a leisure time activity, not a therapeutic tool, so there is no standard response.

“Some people might enjoy the forest; others might prefer a tool shop.”

She said the user's enjoyment of the game is reflective in the way they communicate.

“There was one woman who had no fluency to her language and found it very difficult to hold any kind of conversation. When engaged with the forest, her ability to communicate was immediately enhanced.”  

Alzheimer’s Australia hopes to circulate the initial version of the game to aged and dementia care units early next year.

It will also be distributed to carers of people with dementia for use in the home.

Image: a summer scene from the virtual forest. CONTRIBUTED.