What the headset study found

For years my evidence was faces. Someone would take off the headset and start talking, and I was sure something real had happened. I also knew a high schooler watching his own project is not much of a scientist.

Then a Stanford team studied 245 people aged 65 to 103 in senior communities. Almost 80 percent reported a more positive attitude after a session, and almost 60 percent felt less socially isolated. The finding I keep coming back to is a different one. More than 80 percent of residents and almost 95 percent of caregivers said talking about the experience improved their relationships with each other.

That matches what I saw. The best part of a visit often came after the headset was off, when someone started telling the room about ports and ships from decades earlier.

The study has limits, and I want to be honest about them. It was run with Mynd Immersive, a VR company working in senior care. People in their 80s and 90s enjoyed it less than people in their 70s, and so did people losing sight or hearing. Those may be the people who most need a way out of the room, so that is the problem I would want solved next.

Piotr Kierner