Whiplash is a serious neck injury that can be caused by sudden movements of the neck such as a car accident. Recovery is based on physiotherapy designed to restore cervical movement and reduce pain. Long term engagement is difficult to achieve once patients are no longer in a clinical setting, which in turn affects overall recovery. The proposed research investigates how remote sensor based and gamification can support sustained engagement in whiplash recovery in a home based setting. The research will focus on the development of an AR application that incorporates non invasive sensors to observe neck and head movement during therapy. Acting as a virtual coach, this system will provide guidance, feedback, and motivational elements to encourage correct and consistent performance.

Functional recovery during upper-limb rehabilitation is often slow and difficult for patients to interpret, particularly when visible improvements in movement remain limited in the short term. This work-in-progress study explores whether a Mixed Reality (MR) approach to mirror therapy can strengthen a patient’s perceived sense of recovery during hand rehabilitation, and whether that perceptual shift may in turn support motivation, confidence, and engagement with prescribed physiotherapy exercises. We propose a Meta Quest 3 MR system in which a patient’s healthy hand is tracked and mirrored to visually represent the affected hand during guided rehabilitation tasks. Rather than positioning mirror therapy only as a motor rehabilitation technique, we frame it here as a perceptual intervention aimed at strengthening perceived recovery during periods when objective progress may remain difficult for patients to recognise. This paper presents the concept, motivation, and system design for exploring perceived recovery as a meaningful factor in MR upper-limb rehabilitation.

This paper investigates immersive Extended Reality (XR) broadcasting as a means of enhancing audience experience within production-realistic workflows. An XR broadcast system was iteratively refined through broadcaster-in-the-loop evaluations to improve usability and production stability. A controlled audience study then compared an immersive XR broadcast with a conventional 2D Twitch stream presenting identical content. Participants in the XR condition viewed the broadcast using head-mounted displays within a shared virtual studio, while participants in the 2D condition viewed the stream on desktop displays while physically co-located in the same classroom environment, providing a strong baseline that preserved interpersonal awareness.

Extended Reality (XR) refers to a group of computer-generated technologies, including Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Virtual Reality (VR). It is a rapidly developing field that has found applications across various high-performance sectors such as rehabilitation, manufacturing, and medicine. Despite this growth, its adoption in sports is still relatively limited and not yet fully explored.

Virtual reality (VR) has shown increasing potential in supporting the learning and development of autistic children. However, the design of VR scenes remains unexplored compared to the technology’s implementation and intervention effectiveness. This study aims to fill this gap by focusing on how to design VR environments to better meet the needs of autistic children. We used a mixed approach, collecting feedback from six experts and six parents regarding their expectations for scene design, as well as eye-tracking data from VR experiences. The findings highlight the importance of different types of stakeholder involvement in design decisions and identify key elements in VR scene design. Based on these insights, future work proposes developing and validating a structured set of VR scene design guidelines, a process that combines systematic review of the literature with expert evaluation. This approach ensures that the final guidelines are theoretically sound and practically applicable. The anticipated contribution is to provide a validated framework by experts to support the design of user-centered VR environments for autistic children, thereby advancing research in the field of immersive and interactive media.

It is well accepted that the lack of design guidelines for virtual reality (VR) experiences for autistic children is limiting VR as a support or educational tool.Autistic children may have unique sensory and cognitive needs making typically designed VR applications difficult to experience and tolerate.To better understand factors that should be considered within this context, this paper presents the results of an expert evaluation of a VR application that was developed to introduce the concept of sharing.Six experts working in the field of autism were invited to take part in an experimental evaluation of an immersive VR social story application.The evaluation methods included questionnaires (open-ended) and some behavior analysis (e.g.eye tracking).The experts provided valuable feedback and detailed suggestions on the VR scene design, including lighting, subtitles, and animation design.By capturing the gaze data of the experts, it was found that there were significant differences in the duration of their gazes at different objects of interest in the VR environment.This provided valuable insights in terms of the VR production of social stories.In the future, we plan to expand these insights by incorporating additional stakeholder comments and behavior analysis.This ongoing research aims to develop more inclusive and effective VR design principles for applications for autistic children.

Individuals who experience a significant loss of vision or blindness often face challenges navigating the world. In such scenarios, there is often a dependence on various types of support or aids to enable individuals to move through their surroundings. Examples of this include guide dogs and assistive white canes. Those who suffer from blindness also rely on a heightened sense of auditory processing. Despite these solutions, navigating the modern world is challenging from a safety perspective.

This paper presents a no-code eXtended Reality (XR) workflow that allows non technical people to create XR experiences as part of equipment design review (EDR) processes. The demo showcases how the workflow can enable seamless visualization, interaction, and evaluation of complex CAD models in XR. By combining PiXYZ for CAD-to-mesh translation with Unity's XR Interaction Toolkit and Meta XR SDK, the system delivers immersive experiences that enhance spatial perception and reduce cognitive load for mechanical engineers. The demo also incorporates a stylus based approach for adding hand-drawn notes in real-time on top of imported CAD models. Attendees will witness the complete XR creation pipeline, from CAD import to a live Mixed Reality based design review, demonstrating efficiency, scalability, and potential to revolutionize XR-driven engineering workflows.

Immersive extended reality (XR) experiences typically rely on audio and visual cues, which can unintentionally exclude deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) individuals due to their limited access to auditory feedback. In response, this demo introduces a system that converts audio into haptic feedback, enabling DHH users to perceive sound through tactile sensations. The goal of this research is to investigate how multisensory technologies can enhance accessibility in immersive environments. By stimulating senses beyond the traditional audio-visual modalities, the system serves as an initial platform for creating inclusive experiences across a range of applications, including gaming, cinema, and live events. This approach aims to promote more equitable participation in XR by addressing sensory barriers through innovative design.

In recent years, sensor-based technologies have significantly expanded the scope of what is possible with Extended Reality (XR) systems offering not only new modes of interaction but also new ways to enhance user experience. This has resulted in significant impact in different application domains, with long-term healthcare one such example. Remote healthcare and specifically in physical rehabilitation bring many interesting challenges both from clinical and research perspectives. Conditions like Ulnar Nerve Palsy, which is characterised by degradation of a patient’s nerve causing the loss of sensation and muscle weakness in a hand, calls for precise and continuous motor therapy. Immersive solutions can potentially be a solution that can extend beyond the care of clinical settings. This demand highlights not only the clinical need, but also the importance of how systems are designed to foster patient engagement, comfort and confidence during therapy.In this paper a sensor-based glove system tailored for the needs of ulnar nerve recovery is presented. It is designed not just to support functional rehabilitation in the hope of achieving long-term Quality of Life (QoL) improvements but is informed by the patients Quality of Experience (QoE) through clear feedback, responsive interaction, and a comfortable wearable design. By enhancing the perception of quality during the rehabilitative process, the system aims to improve overall adherence, increase motivation and support improvements in patients’ functional independence and quality of life.

Recent advancements in Virtual Reality (VR) technologies have significantly enhanced immersive experiences, bridging the gap between physical and digital worlds.Modern Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) and motion capture systems such as the KAT VR treadmill have transformed VR into a dynamic platform for applications ranging from entertainment to fitness.These innovations offer opportunities to integrate physical activity within virtual environments, promoting engaging and interactive experiences.This paper presents an overview of a work-in-progress quality of experience (QoE) evaluation of a VR fitness system that explores the utility of a VR locomotion system.Explicit measures will be captured using traditional post-experience questionnaires, whilst implicit measures of QoE in the form of heart rate, electrodermal activity, and skin temperature will be captured using the Emotibit wristband.In parallel, the system will monitor objective metrics which aim to understand the number of calories burned, and distance travelled.The findings aim to highlight the potential of VR as a tool for promoting physical health while contributing to the growing field of fitness-focused social VR.

In recent years, the Virtual Reality (VR) sector has blurred boundaries between the the real world, and virtual world. Key advances in display technologies have led to greater levels of immersion within VR. HMD’s are now lighter and allow for more interactive experiences. Despite these impressive changes, VR enthusiasts continue to tighten the gap between physical and digital spaces by stimulating additional senses using immersive accessories. Haptic feedback is a new and emerging consumer area within this space.Although technologies exist to stimulate haptic feedback within VR, they are often expensive and therefore out of reach for many consumers. As a result, a new generation of eXtended Reality (XR) hardware enthusiasts have emerged, establishing workflows to create low costs systems to stimulate the senses beyond audiovisual. In this paper, we investigate the process and challenges of building one such low-cost solution taking inspiration from LucidVR and OpenGlove SDK.

In order to understand the sentiments between users as they worked together as part of a collaborative Virtual Reality (VR) task, this research analyzed voice interaction using Assembly AI. The real-time conversations between 11 pairs of users were captured as they performed a joint puzzle task. The users were in separate physical spaces but connected in a shared virtual setting. The extracted voice sentiments were correlated with self-reported frustration levels and task completion times. The findings reveal a significant positive correlation between negative sentiments and frustration (r=0.73, p≤0.05) and a negative correlation between positive sentiments and task completion time (r=-0.87, p≤0.001). This shows the relationship between sentiment (positive and negative) and task completion in collaborative VR. These results highlight the potential benefits of analyzing voice sentiment in collaborative VR applications.

Social interactions hold immense significance in the lives of individuals. Children with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may face difficulties when engaging in social situations. These challenges often manifest as neurodivergent behaviours and a reduced willingness to engage in social sharing. Sharing is an integral aspect of social interaction. A lack of awareness or a limited inclination to share can hinder the acquisition of vital social skills. In this paper, a virtual reality (VR) application inspired by the Social Story™ intervention is presented. The aim of the work is to help children with ASD understand social scenarios and gain sharing skills. The application can be used in two configurations: 2D screen and head-mounted display (HMD). Since the system is being designed for a vulnerable group, as part of the iterative application design process, we solicited opinions from six expert professionals who work with children with ASD. They tested, evaluated (questionnaires and physiological data capture) and provided open feedback on the system. The key recommendation from the expert assessors is that the HMD-based interventions are more suitable as an advanced teaching tool for showing skills and knowledge, whereas screen-based interventions could be used for daily practice in children with ASD. Experts evaluated the two configurations from three factors: immersion, enjoyment, and comprehension. In terms of physiological responses, there was a greater increase in electrodermal activity (EDA) responses for the HMD-based intervention compared to the 2D intervention. The significant potential of such a system was highlighted by the expert users.

This paper addresses the need to understand the social dynamics of multiple users collaborating in a Virtual Reality (VR) environment. Specifically, we investigate whether the physiological synchrony between leader-follower task roles in Collaborative Virtual Environments is influenced by the user's previous experience and background. Physiological synchrony is a measure of spontaneous temporal coordination or interdependency between the physiological activity of two or more individuals. Electrodermal activity signals from 8 pairs of users were collected and processed using two different algorithms to measure their synchronization. The results show that physiological synchrony has a moderate correlation with task completion time in VR. Also, the Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) algorithm is more effective in computing synchrony. The findings show correlations between DTW distance, and task performance measures (completion time, and pre-construct scores).

In recent years, museums have become more interactive and immersive through the adaptation of technology within large scale art exhibitions. Due to these changes, new types of cultural experiences are more appealing to a younger audience. Despite these positive changes, some museum experiences are still primarily focused on visual art experiences, which remain out of reach to those with visual impairments. Such unimodal and visual dominated experiences restrict these users who depend on sensory feedback to experience the world around them.

Social interactions and communication play a crucial role in people’s lives. Those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), especially children, may have difficulties participating in social interactions. Such challenges can be characterised by displaying atypical behaviours and limited sharing intention in social settings. Sharing is an important part of social interaction, and a lack of awareness or limited willingness to share undermines the development of social skills. These characteristics may be related to the impaired theory of mind (ToM). This means that it is difficult to understand people’s wishes and feelings. A range of interventions have been created to help develop social communication skills. The Social Story™ intervention is one such example, and it provides clear visual narratives to explain social situations and concepts to help children with ASD. The narratives provide a mechanism to visually communicate typical communication behaviours. The social story intervention approach is book-based. As such, it is dependent on a reader to communicate well the concepts and demands a certain level with respect to the listener’s imagination capacity. With the limitation of the paper-based medium in mind, this work-in-progress paper outlines the steps, approach, and end application to translate the Social Story™ into a virtual reality (VR) experience. The Social Story™ experience in VR potentially offers a more interactive, immersive and flexible intervention.

The availability of affordable head-mounted display technology has facilitated new, potentially more immersive, interactive multimedia experiences. These technologies were traditionally focused on entertainment; however, academia and industry are now exploring applications in other domains such as health, learning and training. Key to the success of these new multimedia experiences is the understanding of a user's perceived quality of experience (QoE). Subjective user ratings have been the primary mechanism to capture insights into a user's experience. Such ratings have generally been captured post experience and reflected using a mean opinion score (MOS). However, user perception is multifactorial and subjective ratings alone do not express the true measure of an experience. As a result, recent efforts to capture QoE have included exploring the use of implicit metrics (e.g., physiological measures). This article presents the results of an experimental QoE evaluation and comparison of immersive applications delivered across three multimedia platforms. The platforms compared were augmented reality, tablet and virtual reality. The QoE methodology employed considered explicit (post-test questionnaire) and implicit (heart rate and electrodermal activity) assessment methods. The results indicate comparatively higher levels of QoE for users of the augmented reality and tablet platforms.

The1 key aim of various assistive technology (AT) systems is to augment an individual's functioning whilst supporting an enhanced quality of life (QoL). In recent times, we have seen the emergence of Virtual Reality (VR) based assistive technology systems made possible by the availability of commercially available Head Mounted Displays (HMDs). The use of VR for AT aims to support levels of interaction and immersion not previously possibly with more traditional AT solutions. Crucial to the success of these technologies is understanding, from the user perspective, the influencing factors that affect the user Quality of Experience (QoE). In addition to the typical QoE metrics, other factors to consider are human behavior like mental and emotional state, posture and gestures. In terms of trying to objectively quantify such factors, there are wide ranges of wearable sensors that are able to monitor physiological signals and provide reliable data. In this demo, we will capture and present the users EEG, heart Rate, EDA and head motion during the use of AT VR application. The prototype is composed of the sensor and presentation systems: for acquisition of biological signals constituted by wearable sensors and the virtual wheelchair simulator that interfaces to a typical LCD display.

The availability of affordable head-mounted displays has resulted in renewed interest in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). This in turn has led to research into users' perceptions of quality in AR and VR environments. In this paper, the authors report the results of an experimental study that compared the user quality of experience (QoE) of an interactive and immersive speech and language assessment implemented in both AR and VR. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first work that compares user QoE of VR and AR applications, in particular with a focus on applications in the speech and language domain. Subjective and objective data was captured to assess a user's QoE. Objective data, such as heart rate and electrodermal activity (EDA) was collected using consumer electronic devices such as the Fitbit and the PIP biosensor. Subjective data was captured using a user's self-reported ratings in a post-test questionnaire. The findings of this study demonstrate similar QoE ratings for both the AR and VR environments. The findings also suggest that users acclimatized to the AR environment more quickly than the VR environment.