VR is revolutionizing a range of industries beyond gaming. Here, we explore how virtual reality has altered various businesses within healthcare, real estate and tourism industries.
With 5G connectivity, VR will become accessible to a broader range of users without an excessive hardware requirement – leading to enhanced experiences such as augmented reality and collaboration.
Training and Development
VR has the power to transport users into an interactive virtual world that closely resembles their everyday experience, creating an emotional engagement experience ideal for training and development purposes. Furthermore, its presence creates a feeling of presence which breaks down stereotypes and biases to foster greater understanding and empathy around subject matter matters.
VR training differs significantly from classroom-based instruction by giving learners the chance to practice tasks over and over until they master them, which has been shown to significantly increase retention and lead to enhanced workplace performance. A PwC study discovered that employees trained through VR were up and running four times faster than those receiving instruction through other means such as role play or e-learning.
VR training can cover an array of subjects, from practical skills like manual labor or safety procedures to soft skills such as leadership and an inclusive work culture. Key to successful VR training are clear course aims and objectives, training materials and tracking/evaluation methods; additionally it may also incorporate other tools like live streaming or augmented reality that further enhance the learning experience.
An effective VR training requires the right hardware, software and content in order to maximize user comfort. To reduce any discomfort it’s essential that graphics for high-resolution displays are optimized with minimum screen glare; eye tracking technologies or click data measurement solutions must also be integrated as part of this experience if user tracking data collection can help measure and monitor their experience; finally limiting physical movement helps mitigate motion sickness symptoms.
Interactive and multimedia components add another layer of engagement that makes VR experiences more accessible to learners of all ages, such as through gamification or storytelling techniques that enhance motivation and retention of information. Furthermore, accessibility features like audio descriptions or alternative navigation methods help make the experiences more inclusive to a wide range of users.
Healthcare
Virtual reality holds great promise for the healthcare industry, offering applications ranging from simulative surgery and patient education remotely, pain management and rehabilitation. Unfortunately, several barriers still impede VR from having a transformative effect on medical practice and outcomes.
First and foremost, virtual reality technology can be expensive and difficult for patients with limited incomes to access. However, developers have made efforts to make VR more affordable and user-friendly so it can reach more people.
Medical students and healthcare professionals alike are taking advantage of virtual reality technology. According to a report by Accenture, 82% of healthcare professionals agree that virtual reality provides a more efficient method for learning and accessing information.
VR technology allows healthcare professionals to experience virtual environments tailored to their specific needs, such as surgical simulation. A surgical simulation using VR allows trainee surgeons to practice their surgical skills safely in an immersive virtual reality experience. VR also enables therapists to treat psychological disorders like phobias or help their patients overcome physical limitations more easily.
VR technology can also aid the improvement of motor skills by offering an interactive platform that enables patients to practice repetitive tasks. Stroke survivors, for instance, can practice movements that help regain lost motor skills in an engaging and fun environment. VR video games have also proven an effective treatment option for burn victims and chronic pain patients: their pain-reducing properties often outshone opioid medications while permitting users to move freely while playing.
An innovative VR program known as “Hands-free Heal” uses virtual reality to teach patients how to perform simple tasks using only their eyes, helping regain muscle strength in arms and hands, as well as avoid bedsores.
“Hourglass” VR therapy helps those living with Parkinson’s manage their symptoms by engaging in activities in the comfort of their own homes. Patients wear a headset similar to regular pair of glasses which tracks movement from them and translates it to virtual world, where the person can walk, eat and even dance!
Real Estate and Architecture
Virtual reality allows real estate and architecture professionals to present design ideas more engagingly to clients, helping them visualize their final product more accurately while making better decisions more quickly and cost effectively. Furthermore, this method eliminates face-to-face meetings altogether which saves both time and costs in meeting times.
Virtual Reality can be employed across industries in a number of different ways. For example, it can simulate work environments or training courses to aid employees’ learning experiences; or be used for immersive gaming experiences where players become immersed in virtual worlds.
Virtual reality (VR) provides architects and designers with an invaluable tool, enabling them to easily create realistic 3D models of buildings and landscapes as well as test new ideas without needing physical prototypes – making communication of designs much simpler and allowing quick adjustments without delay. Furthermore, VR gives architects and designers ample space for experimentation prior to making a decision about a final design plan.
VR can also be utilized for marketing and virtual tours purposes – this may prove especially effective in drawing foreign tourists to visit an area.
Virtual reality technology is also widely utilized in healthcare settings, helping treat anxiety disorders or manage pain for chronic sufferers. Furthermore, education institutions have used virtual reality for remote learning of students. Nursing homes also employ it to alleviate boredom and loneliness among elderly residents.
Virtual reality (VR) can also be utilized for architectural visualization, where architects and clients alike can view an interior or exterior property’s design in 3D – especially helpful when working on complex shapes or layouts – while estimating construction or renovation costs.
Virtual reality (VR) technology is increasingly being employed by real estate and architecture professionals to showcase properties for sale or rent. VR tours can serve as an attractive means of attracting potential buyers or tenants while saving both time and money by eliminating physical visits altogether. According to research conducted by Matterport, homes featuring VR tours spend one third less time on the market and sell for 9% higher prices.
Tourism and Hospitality
VR applications in tourism and hospitality research is rapidly expanding. VR is expected to significantly alter how tourism and hospitality practices are conducted both virtually and physically, offering travelers a completely immersive travel experience that allows them to interact in both worlds as they would normally.
Virtual reality (VR) technology is creating a major revolution in the industry, being used to market hotels and destinations to potential customers, offer immersive pre-visit experiences, and enrich interactions during actual visits to physical destinations. VR also transforms entertainment by giving people an opportunity to visit virtual places they might never get a chance to otherwise see such as film and television scenes that allow viewers to immerse themselves into them and become part of it all.
Many papers in this theme explore how virtual reality (VR) can positively influence tourist consumer behavior, but more research needs to be conducted into how tourists use VR in practice and its implications at different moments in their consumer journeys. Researchers should specifically take note of its purpose and intended outcomes of VR usage during pre-purchase (VR preview), purchase, and post-purchase moments of consumer journey.
This theme of papers explores the factors determining the effectiveness of VR for tourism and hospitality, such as perceived innovativeness, perceived risk and performance expectancy. Researchers identified specific criteria which may explain why certain consumers might adopt VR more quickly compared to others.
Recent research explored how VR’s hedonic aspects affect consumers’ motivations for future VR usage, including factors like enjoyment, flow state and subjective well-being. Their results suggested these variables were significant predictors of continued VR use – with enjoyment particularly significant within tourism marketing contexts.
Other studies examine how virtual reality (VR) can be effectively employed to manage tourist expectations during travel planning decisions by offering immersive virtual tours and encouraging realistic mental imagery of destinations before visits take place. They find that VR can be an effective tool in this respect; however, success hinges upon offering high-quality content and maintaining stable system performance.
