Max
03-20-2005, 10:00 AM
Israeli researcher maintains two virtual realities
By Leora Eren Frucht March 20, 2005
A volunteer wears a head-mounted display helmet that is the basis of a new therapy developed by Prof. Tamar Weiss for treating particularly resistant cases of PTSD.
New center to unravel mysteries of the brain
Israeli researchers discover new hope for post-traumatic stress disorder treatment
University of Haifa
Most people have never witnessed a terror attack. But the graphic depiction of a suicide bus bombing on the computer screen that Prof. Patrice (Tamar) Weiss is displaying seems vividly real.
Watching it - in three dimensions and full sound while wearing a head-mounted display helmet - may help hundreds of Israelis who have witnessed real terror attacks overcome post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and is the basis of a new therapy for treating particularly resistant cases of PTSD.
The treatment is just one of dozens of novel applications of virtual reality (VR) technology which were demonstrated recently at the University of Haifa during the Third VR Symposium.
http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El946&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Profiles
An occupational therapist by training, Weiss grew up in Canada and taught at McGill University in Montreal for many years, before immigrating to Israel in 1991 with her Israel-born husband. For the last four years she has been a researcher and lecturer at the University of Haifa, and a member of its newly-established Laboratory for Innovations in Rehabilitation Technology.
Weiss's interest in VR was piqued when she read an article by one of the pioneers in the field, Prof. Albert 'Skip' Rizzo of the University of Southern California, nearly a decade ago. That ultimately led to a close collaboration with Rizzo, who also attended this month's symposium.
What interests her about the field?
"Look at this," says Weiss, showing a videotape of a woman with a spinal cord injury doing traditional physiotherapy. The therapist hands her a plastic ring which she must grasp without losing her balance - then another ring, and another, and another. "Let's face it. It's very static and very boring."
Now she shows a videotape of another patient who is also learning to balance himself - only he is watching himself on a giant screen, against a breath-taking mountain backdrop, swatting at balls in the sky. Every ball he hits turns into a colorful bird. The scene is virtual, but the man's movements - he is leaping and swatting with increasing determination - are very real.
"It's interesting and motivating," explains Weiss. "I have yet to meet a patient - of any age - who didn't like it. So it's very effective." (In a newer version, she notes excitedly, patients will wear a glove which vibrates whenever they make contact with a virtual ball - further increasing the sense of realness.)
The symposium Weiss organized, which brought leading VR experts from the US, Canada, Europe, Japan and Israel, to Haifa showed the dizzying range of new VR technologies dedicated to health and rehabilitation - from a robotic dog, who can be a reliable companion for the elderly - "no need to feed him or take him for walks," noted the researcher who demonstrated the small, black, yelping Sony invention - to 3D interactive games that could some day be used for early diagnoses of Alzheimer's disease, treatment of attention deficit disorder, and rehabilitation of patients who have suffered central nervous system injuries.
"Virtual reality has completely revolutionized the field of occupational therapy," says Weiss, who is personally involved in several innovative VR projects, including the simulated bus bombing program designed to treat Israelis suffering from severe post-traumatic stress.
That program - developed together with Dr. Naomi Josman, Prof.Eli Somer and Ayelet Reisberg, all of the University of Haifa, as well as with American researchers - is designed to expose patients in a controlled manner to the traumatic incident which they are often unable to remember, but which has a powerful and debilitating effect on their lives.
http://stores.ebay.com/MAKSYM-Variety-Store
By Leora Eren Frucht March 20, 2005
A volunteer wears a head-mounted display helmet that is the basis of a new therapy developed by Prof. Tamar Weiss for treating particularly resistant cases of PTSD.
New center to unravel mysteries of the brain
Israeli researchers discover new hope for post-traumatic stress disorder treatment
University of Haifa
Most people have never witnessed a terror attack. But the graphic depiction of a suicide bus bombing on the computer screen that Prof. Patrice (Tamar) Weiss is displaying seems vividly real.
Watching it - in three dimensions and full sound while wearing a head-mounted display helmet - may help hundreds of Israelis who have witnessed real terror attacks overcome post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and is the basis of a new therapy for treating particularly resistant cases of PTSD.
The treatment is just one of dozens of novel applications of virtual reality (VR) technology which were demonstrated recently at the University of Haifa during the Third VR Symposium.
http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El946&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Profiles
An occupational therapist by training, Weiss grew up in Canada and taught at McGill University in Montreal for many years, before immigrating to Israel in 1991 with her Israel-born husband. For the last four years she has been a researcher and lecturer at the University of Haifa, and a member of its newly-established Laboratory for Innovations in Rehabilitation Technology.
Weiss's interest in VR was piqued when she read an article by one of the pioneers in the field, Prof. Albert 'Skip' Rizzo of the University of Southern California, nearly a decade ago. That ultimately led to a close collaboration with Rizzo, who also attended this month's symposium.
What interests her about the field?
"Look at this," says Weiss, showing a videotape of a woman with a spinal cord injury doing traditional physiotherapy. The therapist hands her a plastic ring which she must grasp without losing her balance - then another ring, and another, and another. "Let's face it. It's very static and very boring."
Now she shows a videotape of another patient who is also learning to balance himself - only he is watching himself on a giant screen, against a breath-taking mountain backdrop, swatting at balls in the sky. Every ball he hits turns into a colorful bird. The scene is virtual, but the man's movements - he is leaping and swatting with increasing determination - are very real.
"It's interesting and motivating," explains Weiss. "I have yet to meet a patient - of any age - who didn't like it. So it's very effective." (In a newer version, she notes excitedly, patients will wear a glove which vibrates whenever they make contact with a virtual ball - further increasing the sense of realness.)
The symposium Weiss organized, which brought leading VR experts from the US, Canada, Europe, Japan and Israel, to Haifa showed the dizzying range of new VR technologies dedicated to health and rehabilitation - from a robotic dog, who can be a reliable companion for the elderly - "no need to feed him or take him for walks," noted the researcher who demonstrated the small, black, yelping Sony invention - to 3D interactive games that could some day be used for early diagnoses of Alzheimer's disease, treatment of attention deficit disorder, and rehabilitation of patients who have suffered central nervous system injuries.
"Virtual reality has completely revolutionized the field of occupational therapy," says Weiss, who is personally involved in several innovative VR projects, including the simulated bus bombing program designed to treat Israelis suffering from severe post-traumatic stress.
That program - developed together with Dr. Naomi Josman, Prof.Eli Somer and Ayelet Reisberg, all of the University of Haifa, as well as with American researchers - is designed to expose patients in a controlled manner to the traumatic incident which they are often unable to remember, but which has a powerful and debilitating effect on their lives.
http://stores.ebay.com/MAKSYM-Variety-Store