The vERvE project aims to improve the quality of life of people at risk of social exclusion due to the fear and apathy associated with ageing and neurological troubles. The consortium works on the specification, development, and testing personalized and populated virtual environments that can be used on different types of platforms from immersive rooms (CAvE) to smart phones.
vERvE’s efforts will focus on three situations: fear of falling and Parkinson’s disease; apathy related to cognitive decline and behavioral disturbances, in particular due to Alzheimer’s Disease; and other emotional disturbances linked to anxiety. Although focusing on these areas initially, it is expected that the results of the research will be applicable to a much wider range of situations. 3D sound is used in immersive situations to study the connections between visual-audio integration and emotion. The understanding of the emotional impact of visual and audio rendering of a virtual environment, from an emotional perception point of view, must enable the implementation of new therapeutic strategies for troubles linked to anxiety.
