We are proud to announce that Virry VR complies with the NHS UK's DCB 0129 Standard of Clinical Safety. Prepared by the NHS Digital Clinical Safety team, DCB 0129 is designed to help manufacturers of Health IT software evidence the clinical safety of their products.
Virry VR is classified as a Class 1 Medical Device with the MHRA, as a product intended for the prevention, treatment and/or alleviation of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with conditions, such as dementia, Alzheimer's, and ADHD and is CE accredited.
Virry VR was developed with psychologist Dr Gail Melson, of Perdue University, and Prof. Jeremy Bailenson of Stanford University, to ensure we created a VR product that is safe and emotionally beneficial to use.
User feedback:
User feedback was collected during the development phase of Virry VR. We ran test groups of various ages at a Virry VR Experience space, set up at our studio in London, to trail the product test build and collect feedback. This feedback was used by the Virry team to amend our design and ensure we built a product that was easy and intuitive to use by all ages.
Employees — HeadHunter
Positive effect of everyday VIRRY VR breaks on office employees.
Longitudinal study conducted by Fountain Digital Labs (London, UK) in the top online recruitment company Headhunter Group (hh.ru)
We conducted a study of the effectiveness of Virry technology for a short conscious break in the headquarters of HeadHunter Group (HH.ru).
47 people took part in the study of the instantaneous impact of a conscious break experience in virtual reality. 21 people took part in the longitudinal study of the effects of a conscious break in virtual reality that lasted over 4 weeks. All participants took part in the study on a voluntary basis, had normal or corrected to normal vision, were mentally healthy, had no cardiac or neurological diseases, and did not take any medication during the study period that could significantly affect the brain and heart work.
Apart from the VNS-Micro testing used self-report analysis. Throughout the series of initial screening, employees could go online using their own devices by clicking on the link virry.life/tests_before/en, to fill in the application form and pass the tests in the beginning and the end of research and also everyday
Senior Care — Malakhovka
Positive effect of everyday VIRRY VR breaks on care home residents diagnosed with dementia.
Longitudinal study conducted by Fountain Digital Labs (London, UK) in a care home
A control group was formed of 22 elderly residents. Among the participants were elderly people with differing levels of cognitive function, but all with an MMSE score of at least 24. We used primarily the following tests:
— Questionnaire to collect information on the participant’s features and emotional state/mood.
— A. Luria’s "10 words method" test to assess the state of the participant’s memory, fatigue and attention. This method allows exploration of the process of memory — memorization, preservation and reproduction.
— "Visual memory" test to study short-term memory.
— "Subjective age" questionnaire.
After the initial tests, the study participants visited the Virry VR site on a daily basis to watch one or two videos of animals. After completion of the first stage, the study continued for a further 4 months.
There was a clear improvement in memory test results. It should be noted that the inclusion of a new type of activity in an elderly person’s environment gives them a stimulating experience and it is highly probable that this has a positive effect on cognitive abilities that decline with age. It can be assumed that visiting the savannah via VR arouses interest in the new and re-orientates the entire cognitive system with knowledge, whilst also having an immediate positive impact on the individual’s wellbeing, setting a positive emotional scene that enables a different attitude to life. A break with Virry VR has, for many participants, become an integral part of their life in the care home. Furthermore, VR experience has also become a communicative platform for discussing new topics with new people.
Our research partners
The Virry team have started working together with researchers at the Centre for Immersive Technologies, University of Leeds to explore how virtual reality can be used to augment educational experiences in the primary school years. Existing research has shown that childhood vocabulary can be predicted by environmental exposure and children from low socioeconomical backgrounds lag behind their wealthier peers in language development. Our aim is to contribute towards democratising learning opportunities and help all children, irrespective of their socioeconomic background, experience informationally-rich environments such as exploring the wonders of the natural world through Virry Safari. We are currently in the process of conducting a feasibility experiment to understand how to best align the Virry VR safari experiences with the UK national curriculum to facilitate educational development.
Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL) is currently running a study in which hundreds of experimental participants are experiencing VR scenes via spherical video. The goal of the study is to create a database of VR experiences that induce particular emotions (i.e., high versus low arousal) and to better understand the link between head movement and emotional experiences in VR. Virry VR has provided essential videos that are being used as stimuli in the experiment, given they provide unique experiences that are emotionally charged.
The VHIL have also used Virry VR products in a study conducted at a senior care home, looking at how virtual reality can help improve the quality of life of their senior residents.
— Epigenetics — looking at how meditation changes gene expression.
— Treatment of ADHD symptoms in children and teenagers.
— Pain reduction for patients/ people living with chronic pain.
— Improving the quality of life of dementia patients.
— Improving dementia patient’s memory .
— Improving mental health and emotional balance at high risk companies.
— Decreasing the subjective age of older adults.
— Depression.
— Anxiety.
— How psychological health can be improved by exposure to nature and wildlife.
— Improving empathy and ecocentrism.
Please contact us if you would like to discuss research opportunities with our team.