| BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE
PROJECT |
|
P4 is pretended to design and test
a self-help treatment program for phobia to small animals
(spiders, cockroaches and rats) by means of virtual reality
environments via Internet.
Three treatment conditions are going to be compared:
a) Traditional 'in vivo' exposure.
b) Tele-exposure using internet.
c) Tele-exposure using internet and a virtual reality
head-mounted device.
For the tele-exposure system, patients must follow
a defined process which is controlled by the system.
To init the treatment, the patient has to access to
a web page in which, initially, an evaluation of the
problem is made. Immediately after, the treatment begins.
A set of stimulus related with the detected problems
are presented to the patient: images, sounds and exposure
to virtual environments. There is an unique environment
in which several tasks with growing difficulty levels
should be made. It is required a realist simulation
of small animals: animation, textures, sounds…
We consider less important the realism of the environment,
which is less related to the phobia being treated. That
will help to minimize the size of the file and make
it easier to download. The patient will be asked about
his/her level of anxiety from time to time or when certain
events occur. The possible states are defined and the
system establishes restrictions to some situations if
the patient has not overcome the preceding. The patient's
state at each moment and its responses to questionnaires
are stored in XML format in a data base located in a
web server. The patient can leave the exposure any time,
and when he/she accesses again, he/she will continue
from the last level not overcome.
However, we will analyze the use of the head-mounted
device in the tele-exposure via internet, in order to
see the possible advantages that it can have with respect
to the direct visualization in the monitor.
Respect to the tracker, we have decided not to use it.
This decision implies the development of a navigation
system that allows the simulation with the mouse of
changes in the direction of view of the patient.
As results of the study, we expect to obtain the minimal
bandwidth and hardware configuration required for the
treatment to be effective.
The system will provide a self-help treatment via Internet,
similar to 'Talk to me'1, but with the novelty of using
virtual environments instead of videos. With respect
to traditional therapy with virtual environments, the
system allows to automate tasks that are usually made
by the therapist.
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