Virtual reality for older users: a systematic literature review

Abstract

The use of technologies by the elderly is still restricted, especially concerning recent technologies. To better understand the older user experience, while using virtual reality technology, we performed a Systematic Literature Review. The databases selected for research were the digital libraries of ACM, IEEE, Science Direct and Google Scholar. During the literature review, we col- lected information about the characteristics of the participants of the studies selected, the experiences reported about the use of technology, the research method used, the technologies chosen for the tests, the results obtained and future work suggested. The main contributions of this work were to identify the state of art of virtual and augmented reality for older people, the possible applications of these technologies to them, the most used devices and also the considerations reported by previous experiences.

Virtual reality in retirement communities: Technology acceptance and tourist destination recommendation

“…4К video' was selected (Figure 2). This VR experience also follows the recommendations by Silva et al (2019): it had an intermediate-length duration (around 5 min), it was high quality and comprehensive (Gondola ride, Piazza San Marcos, R, etc. ), and it had a pace and perspective that reduced stress, dizziness and vertigo amongst older adults.…”

Design Considerations for Immersive Virtual Reality Applications for Older Adults: A Scoping Review

“…Similarly, [25] suggested blending the aspects of old and familiar experiences in new settings, particularly for users with cognitive decline [30] suggested that making familiar environments accessible to older adults (e.g., through a virtual tour) is enjoyable for those who may not be able to visit or easily navigate the old places. Familiar environments and contexts have emotional values that older adult users find enjoyable [10]. Importantly, users over 60 years of age are found susceptible to cybersickness effects when exposed to unfamiliar content in iVR [78].…”

“…However, the needs of older and younger adults may not be identical. Others reviewed a wide spectrum of displays labelled as VR for older adults, lacking focus on HMDs [10,11], thus the design recommendations provided were limited in scope. Closer to our work is [12].…”

Facilitators and barriers to using virtual reality and augmented reality and its impact on social engagement in aged care settings: a scoping review protocol

“…Another systematic review identified studies exploring the use of VR in older adults. 19 Our review will be specific to aged care settings as we would like to know the facilitators and barriers of adopting VR/AR technology in these settings, which are different from home settings. We will also be more comprehensive in our review by including all older adults residing in care settings, since VR/AR can benefit people without dementia as well.…”

“…For example, Appel et al 18 conducted a scoping review on the current state of research using VR for people with dementia. Another systematic review identified studies exploring the use of VR in older adults 19. Our review will be specific to aged care settings as we would like to know the facilitators and barriers of adopting VR/AR technology in these settings, which are different from home settings.…”