Cloud-Based VR Cybertherapy for Dynamic Exposure Therapy

Abstract

The use of virtual reality (VR) technology in the rehabilitation domain offers opportunities such as conducting potentially dangerous exposure experiments safely in a clinical environment. Although current state-of-the-art VR headsets offer very high resolutions that provide experiences close to real life, therapy systems are generally developed for specific phobias. The majority of VR-based small animal phobia studies are limited to exposure to spiders, insects, rats, and snakes, and there is no generic system available for the treatment of various small animal phobias. In this paper, we designed and implemented a cloud-based cybertherapy system for treating patients with small animal phobias that supports exposure to multiple species. Therapists can download specific assets for any type of small animal species from the cloud repository, enhancing the therapy systems based on the needs of the patients. The proposed exposure therapy system allows therapists to control the small animal assets in the game engine and adjust the therapy sessions according to the patient's condition. The results demonstrate the system's effectiveness in offering a flexible, adaptive, and scalable solution for treating small animal phobias across different patient scenarios. As an extension of this work, we started to develop a recommendation engine that uses labeled therapy data to personalize treatment protocols, further enhancing patient care.