Virtual reality helps seniors socialize and reduce isolation, AP reports

Virtual reality headsets are helping older residents connect, AP reported

At The Terraces in Los Gatos, a senior living community about 55 miles south of San Francisco, caretakers schedule short virtual reality sessions that allow residents—many in their 80s and 90s—to share immersive experiences together, Associated Press reported. In a matter of minutes, the headsets can transport residents to different settings while they sit side by side.

AP reported that the program’s virtual reality content was curated by Rendever, a company that focuses on using VR to foster cognition and social connections in retirement communities. Residents have been able to take turns donning headsets for experiences that include virtual travel, ocean-depth immersion and other activities, with the shared aspect often continuing after the session.

In one example described by AP, an earlier session included a 3D program in which residents paddled alongside their chairs as they swam with a pod of dolphins. After a virtual submersion, 81-year-old Ginny Baird said, “We got to go underwater and didn’t even have to hold our breath!”

AP also reported that residents reacted strongly during other parts of the programming. During a session featuring a virtual hot-air balloon ride, one resident gasped, “Oh my God!” Another shuddered, saying, “It’s hard to watch!”

For some participants, the virtual experiences are tailored to personal history as well as entertainment. AP reported that Rendever’s technology can virtually take older adults back to places where they grew up; Sue Livingstone, 84, said a virtual trip to her childhood neighborhood in New York City’s Queens borough helped bring back memories, even though she can get out more often than many residents.

Adrian Marshall, The Terraces’ community life director, told AP that when word about a VR experience spreads from one resident to another, more residents typically become curious and want to try it. He said the sessions can become “a conversation starter,” and he described how VR can connect residents by helping them recognize shared interests before they return to everyday activities.

Rendever is positioning the approach for broader research and adoption. AP reported that the company, which is privately owned and based in Somerville, Massachusetts, said it is building on its senior living platform with a recent National Institutes of Health grant totaling nearly $4.5 million to study ways to reduce social isolation among seniors living at home and their caregivers.

The reporting also cited research and expert caution about the role of VR in elder engagement. AP said some studies have found VR programming presented in a limited viewing format can help older people maintain or improve cognitive functions, support memory and foster social connections with families and other residents. Neuropsychologist Katherine “Kate” Dupuis, a professor at Sheridan College in Canada, said there is “always a risk of too much screen time,” adding that if used cautiously “with meaning and purpose, it can be very helpful,” and she said it can be “an opportunity for the elderly to engage with someone and share a sense of wonder.”

AP also reported that VR may be easier for some older adults to use than smartphone-style technology because it avoids button navigation and other device mechanisms. Pallabi Bhowmick, a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said older adults are “willing and want to adapt to technologies that are meaningful to them,” and he added that, beyond relieving stress and providing entertainment, there could be an intergenerational component to how older people share the experience with younger relatives.

The AP story also described competition in the senior VR market, noting that another VR specialist, Mynd Immersive, competes with Rendever with services tailored for senior living communities. AP said other Silicon Valley retirement villages have used VR as a possible tool for slowing the effects of dementia, including the Forum, where residents took virtual trips such as hiking through Glacier National Park in Montana and watching a virtual classical music performance.

In one Forum example described by AP, Bob Rogallo, a resident with dementia who has difficulty speaking, nodded and smiled while celebrating his 83rd birthday with his wife, Sallie Rogallo. She said the virtual visit to Glacier brought back memories of their trips to the same park over more than 30 years, and she said, “This lets you get out of the same environment and either go to a new place or visit places where you have been.”