Researchers are exploring technology for those wanting a quieter life! Reporting in the journal Scientific Reports (a Nature Springer publication), the team of Tong Xiao, Xiaojun Qiu and Benjamin Halkon highlight the positive impacts for health and wellbeing of their ‘virtual Active Noise Control/Cancellation (ANC) headphone’ and its enhanced ability to reduce ambient noise. By…

Behavioral scientists have developed a virtual reality test that assesses a person’s vulnerability to stress while exploring immersive environments. The resulting model offers the field of stress research one of the first such tools that does not rely on subjective evaluations. Any event that causes stress is called a «stressor.» Our bodies are equipped to…

A new proposal for virtual travel, using advanced mathematical techniques and combining livestream video with existing photos and videos of travel hotspots, could help revitalize an industry that has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, according to researchers. In a new proposal published in Cell Patterns, Dr. Arni S.R. Srinivasa Rao, a mathematical modeler and…

Researchers at CAMERA are investigating VR technology to help improve balance and prevent falls. As people grow older, losing balance and falling becomes more common, which increases the risk of injury and affects the person’s independence. Falls are the leading cause of non-fatal injuries in over 65-yearolds and account for over 4 million bed days…

A new study explored why the severity of motion sickness varies from person to person by investigating sources of cybersickness during VR use. In the new study, Variations in visual sensitivity predict motion sickness in virtual reality published in the journal Entertainment Computing, Rokers and his team used VR headsets to simulate visual cues and…

Freehand gesture-based interfaces in interactive systems are becoming more common, but what if your preferred way to gesture a command — say, changing the TV to channel 10 — significantly differed from that of a user from another culture? Would the system recognize your command? Researchers explored this question and found that some gesture choices…

Automated vehicles could be made more pedestrian-friendly thanks to new research which could help them predict when people will cross the road. Scientists investigating how to better understand human behavior in traffic say that neuroscientific theories of how the brain makes decisions can be used in automated vehicle technology to improve safety and make them…

A team of researchers found that people considered websites more interactive if they had tools to facilitate communication between users, often referred to as computer-mediated communication, or CMC. In a study, a team of researchers found that people considered websites more interactive if they had tools to facilitate communication between users, often referred to as…

Researchers call for greater regulation and transparency as analysis of medicines-related apps found most directly shared user data — including sensitive health data — with third parties, posing an unprecedented privacy risk. However these apps also pose unprecedented risk to consumers’ privacy given their ability to collect user data, including sensitive information that is highly…

A new mathematical model for the interaction of bacteria in the gut could help design new probiotics and specially tailored diets to prevent diseases. «Intestinal bacteria have an important role to play in health and the development of diseases, and our new mathematical model could be extremely helpful in these areas,» says Jens Nielsen, Professor…