Extended reality is a

catch-all A catch-all or catchall is a general term, or metaphoric dumping group, for a variety of similar words or meanings. Catch-all may also refer to: *Catch-all party, or big tent party * Catch-all email filter *Catch-all taxon Wastebasket taxon (al ...

to refer to

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...

(AR) and

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), edu ...

(VR). Sometimes the abbreviation “XR” is used to refer to both. The technology is intended to combine or mirror the physical world with a "digital twin world" that is able to interact with each other. The fields of virtual reality and augmented reality are rapidly growing and being applied in a wide range of ways, entertainment, marketing, real estate, training, and remote work.

Multisensory extended reality

Multisensory extended reality (XR) integrates the five traditional senses, including sight,

hearing Hearing, or auditory perception, is the ability to perceive sounds through an organ, such as an ear, by detecting vibrations as periodic changes in the pressure of a surrounding medium. The academic field concerned with hearing is audit ...

, smell,

taste The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste (flavor). Taste is the perception produced or stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor ...

and

touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch ( haptic perception), as well as temperature ( thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It ...

Perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

involves signals that go through the nervous system, as vision involves

light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 t ...

striking the

retina The retina (from la, rete "net") is the innermost, light-sensitive layer of tissue of the eye of most vertebrates and some molluscs. The optics of the eye create a focused two-dimensional image of the visual world on the retina, which the ...

of the eye, the smell is mediated by odor

molecules A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bio ...

, and hearing involves

pressure waves A P wave (primary wave or pressure wave) is one of the two main types of elastic body waves, called seismic waves in seismology. P waves travel faster than other seismic waves and hence are the first signal from an earthquake to arrive at any ...

. Sensory cues of multisensory extended reality include visual, auditory, olfactory, haptic, and environmental. Scent is prominent in multisensory extended reality, as in biology, the

olfactory system The olfactory system, or sense of smell, is the sensory system used for smelling ( olfaction). Olfaction is one of the special senses, that have directly associated specific organs. Most mammals and reptiles have a main olfactory system and an ...

is integrated through the

sensory nervous system The sensory nervous system is a part of the nervous system responsible for processing sensory information. A sensory system consists of sensory neurons (including the sensory receptor cells), neural pathways, and parts of the brain involved i ...

. Multisensory experiences have elements of

neuromorphic engineering Neuromorphic engineering, also known as neuromorphic computing, is the use of electronic circuits to mimic neuro-biological architectures present in the nervous system. A neuromorphic computer/chip is any device that uses physical artificial ...

, cognitive science,

positive psychology Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living, focusing on both individual and societal well-being. It studies "positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions...it aims t ...

neuroenhancement Neuroenhancement or cognitive enhancement refers to the targeted enhancement and extension of cognitive and affective abilities based on an understanding of their underlying neurobiology in healthy persons who do not have any mental illness. As su ...

, and nanoemulsion technology. It is a form of

limbic system The limbic system, also known as the paleomammalian cortex, is a set of brain structures located on both sides of the thalamus, immediately beneath the medial temporal lobe of the cerebrum primarily in the forebrain.Schacter, Daniel L. 2012. ''P ...

health technology Health technology is defined by the World Health Organization as the "application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures, and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of liv ...

that includes

digital therapeutics Digital therapeutics, a subset of digital health, are evidence-based therapeutic interventions driven by high quality software programs to prevent, manage, or treat a medical disorder or disease. Digital therapeutic companies should publish trial r ...

. Multisensory experiences are biocentric, and may be designed to enhance user

well-being Well-being, or wellbeing, also known as wellness, prudential value or quality of life, refers to what is intrinsically valuable relative ''to'' someone. So the well-being of a person is what is ultimately good ''for'' this person, what is in th ...

via digital therapeutics by experiencing them as mood-enhancing technology with digital therapeutic effects, providing positive changes in perception, mood,

cognition Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, though ...

, and

behavior Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as we ...

. Multisensory extended reality utilizes OpenXR and WebXR standards. It consists of perception,

motor control Motor control is the regulation of movement in organisms that possess a nervous system. Motor control includes reflexes as well as directed movement. To control movement, the nervous system must integrate multimodal sensory information (both ...

multisensory integration Multisensory integration, also known as multimodal integration, is the study of how information from the different sensory modalities (such as sight, sound, touch, smell, self-motion, and taste) may be integrated by the nervous system. A coherent ...

, vision systems, head-eye systems, and auditory processing. It is HCI human-computer interface technology. All of which require reverse-engineering of the retina.

Health and safety

Researchers are conducting experiments to determine possible health hazards and safety measures
Robert Rauschenberger
an
Brandon Barakat
conducted assessment using a variety of optometric, psychophysical and

self-report A self-report study is a type of survey, questionnaire, or poll in which respondents read the question and select a response by themselves without any outside interference. A ''self-report'' is any method which involves asking a participant ab ...

measures. Their concurrent research to discover hidden health hazards in usage of VR in education concludes that this technology needs to be used safely by children in an educational use case. More examination needs to be done considering

demographic Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as ed ...

and environmental parameter.

References

;Sources * {{DEFAULTSORT:Extended reality Mixed reality Reality by type User interface techniques

Multisensory extended reality

Health and safety

See also

References