Virtual Breathing Coach V20230520
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Virtual Human Breathing Relaxation System
IRAS ID
318466
Contact name
Ulysses Bernardet
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Aston Univeristy
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 28 days
Research summary
The purpose of the study is to improve the accessibility and affordability of personalised healthcare that can be realised within the comfort of our homes. Although there are applications that improve the accessibility to healthcare such as online tutorials, they do not provide a bespoke and personalised regime for all. The challenge is to provide people with a stimulating environment where people interact with a system whenever they need to and receive a personalised service.
We, therefore, want to test the usability and acceptance of our virtual-reality-based system where a virtual coach will act as a breathing instructor and guide patients with asthma through a set of breathing exercises to improve their breathing. While Virtual-Reality has been successfully applied in clinical settings for breathing exercises, previous studies do not firstly, adapt the breathing exercises per each individual participant and secondly, involve a real-time human-(virtual) human interaction. Therefore, our primary objectives are to find out: 1) the optimal breathing exercise frequency suitable to the individual participant and 2)how people perceive a computer-generated-virtual-human as a breathing coach.
The system has previously been trialled with a non-clinical population (n=20) where results indicated that people found the system easy to use and are willing to try the system again. This iteration is based on the pulmonary-rehabilitation program approach of individualised prescribed breathing exercises where patients can choose an optimum length for their breathing exercise.
We will be asking participation for one experimental session which will last for 55 minutes and will be set up at Aston University. In the experiment, participants will explore the virtual world with the help of a head-mounted display and wear breathing belts around their tummy and chest for us to monitor their breathing rate. In the end, participants report their experience using a questionnaire.REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/WM/0224
Date of REC Opinion
7 Feb 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion