DailyRehab VR

Inspiration

We were inspired to tackle this challenge for 2 reasons. Firstly, because of the prevalence of traumatic brain injury. TBI is described as external trauma to the surrounding structures of the brain which result in brain lesions that have repercussions on patient functioning (ex. altered attention and memory) (Kumar and al., 2017). It's the most common form of acquired brain injury (ABI) and its long-term impacts have been described as a "silent epidemic" (Lee and al., 2019). We were also curious to tackle this project because of the complexity of TBI rehabilitation which requires a multimodal, client-centered, multidisciplinary and holistic approach which we believe a modulable VR experience using " activity pacing " principles could be optimal for (Roelke and al., 2022) (Lee and al., 2019). As with any type of neurological rehabilitation, early intervention is fundamental for TBI rehabilitation. We want to make sure to choose and encourage adequate strategies that will provide positive, generalizable and sustained effects on the patients’ neuroplasticity (Lee and al., 2019). In terms of principles of rehabilitation, our project puts forth these key elements by using a patient centered approach offering a highly personalized experience not only restricted to the specificities of their brain lesion but also to some socio-environmental factors that can be strong predictors of successful rehabilitation such as motivation, engagement and self-efficacy (Zanatta and al., 2022). Our project is also goal oriented and uses repetitive sequenced task training of a daily life activity which has been shown in the literature to be the best way to generalize skill acquisition from a therapy context to everyday life (Lee and al., 2019). We aim to better the user's functional independence in a controlled setting. Interestingly enough, because of the invisible nature of the cognitive difficulties post TBI, a lot of patients deal with stigmatization in settings where they have to interact socially which they have reported as a barrier leading to social isolation. Practicing the sequence in a controlled setting can lower patients’ apprehension to social interaction by increasing their self efficacy with using this simulation (Mahar and al., 2012). Finally, better functional independence can not only increase the patient’s quality of life but also reduce caregiver burden (Calderone and al., 2023).

References Calderone, A., Carta, D., Cardile, D., Quartarone, A., Rifici, C., Calabrò, R. S., & Corallo, F. (2023). Use of Virtual Reality in Patients with Acquired Brain Injury: A Systematic Review. Journal of clinical medicine, 12(24), 7680. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm12247680

Kumar, K. S., Samuelkamaleshkumar, S., Viswanathan, A., & Macaden, A. S. (2017). Cognitive rehabilitation for adults with traumatic brain injury to improve occupational outcomes. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, 6(6), CD007935. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD007935.pub2

Lee, S. Y., Amatya, B., Judson, R., Truesdale, M., Reinhardt, J. D., Uddin, T., Xiong, X. H., & Khan, F. (2019). Clinical practice guidelines for rehabilitation in traumatic brain injury: a critical appraisal. Brain injury, 33(10), 1263–1271. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2019.1641747

Mahar, C. & Fraser, K. (2012). Barriers to successful community reintegration following acquired brain injury (ABI). International Journal of Disability Management, 6, 49–67. DOI 10.1375/jdmr.6.1.49

Roelke, M. B., Jewell, V. D., & Radomski, M. V. (2022). Return-to-activity: Exploration of occupational therapy in outpatient adult concussion rehabilitation. OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health, 42(4), 333-343.

Zanatta, F., Giardini, A., Pierobon, A. et al. A systematic review on the usability of robotic and virtual reality devices in neuromotor rehabilitation: patients’ and healthcare professionals’ perspective. BMC Health Serv Res 22, 523 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-07821-w

What it does

Our 3 main features are the integrated chatbot (cashier) which allows for conversational interaction between the cashier and the VR user. We also integrated spatial audio stimulations that serve as environmental distracting factors that could be present in a real-life context. Our experience is simulating a real-life daily activity: Going to the grocery store! This complex activity is a rich and stimulating daily life activity because of the countless superposition of stimuli (ex. visual and auditory), the need for multitasking (ex. talking to the cashier while making the payment) and the unpredictable nature of interacting in a community setting.

How we built it

Our idea was to create an VR experience integrating Ai. We first had to do speech to text, we then sent that text to DeepSeek Ai that would interpret the text to then generate an answer. Then, using, text to speech, the cashier is able to converse with the VR user. We then designed the grocery store setting where the simulation would occur and strategically integrated a sequence of visual and auditory distractions to serve as environmental stimuli while the user goes through the sequence of the task.

Challenges we ran into

We faced some challenging obstacles along the way, the most notable was being able to determine the best way to incorporate visual and auditory stimuli to the experience while finding the optimal balance between inducing variability and unpredictability while minimising previsibility. We also had issues with the collaboration factors of using GitHuub and Unity.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We were proud to create a project that is flexible, scalable and has the opportunity to tackle multiple occupational difficulties with creating different levels which could greatly increase patients’ quality of life. With our current model, we are proud of our patient centred approach which improve functional performance, minimizes social barriers to interaction in a community setting and improves the patients and support systems quality of life.

What we learned

We learned how to use a new API (MetaXR). As a team, we learned how to communicate information effectively from every members different academic and technical background and experience.