计算机专业时文选读之三十

Virtual Therapy

Virtual reality, technology that gives users the feeling they are somewhere else, can be of great value in treating people suffering from a variety of physical or psychological conditions.

Therapy based on the technology is being used in a small number of U.S. clinics to treat burn victims and people with phobias, such as the fear of flying, spiders and heights. Researchers say the technology holds enormous promise for treating post-traumatic stress disorder and addictions and for use as a distraction technique in painful dental and medical procedures, including chemotherapy and physical therapy.

Advances in the technology, such as higher-resolution head-mounted displays, will most likely help virtual reality take its place among more mainstream treatments, say researchers.

Virtual reality generally involves a computer-generated, multidimensional sensory environment that users experience via interface tools that enable them to immerse themselves in the environment, navigate within it and interact with objects and characters inhabiting the environment.

In SnowWorld, the first virtual environment designed specifically for treating burn victims, patients undergoing painful treatments can fly through an icy canyon and shoot snowballs at snowmen, igloos, robots and penguins standing on narrow ice shelves or floating in a river.

The virtual reality treatment is successful because the patient's attention is no longer focused on the wound or the pain, but rather on the virtual world, says SnowWorld's developer, Hunter Hoffman.

While the medical applications of virtual reality are promising, more needs to be done before it will become a widely accepted and practiced clinical treatment.

“The innovators in medical VR will be called upon to refine technical efficiency and increase physical and psychological comfort and capability while keeping an eye to reducing costs for health care,” says research scientist Walter Greenleaf, president of Greenleaf Medical Group.

Greenleaf Medical is a Palo Alto, Calif.-based consortium of companies working to advance the development of new technologies in medicine.

Virtually Better President and CEO Ken Graap says he thinks companies will make wireless trackers——devices that measure movement and translate it into computer commands——and introduce better-resolution head-mounted displays with wider fields of view within the next five years.

Graap says that virtual reality technology will become wireless and patients won't have to be tethered to a computer ——allowing them to be treated at home. “I can envision people having a station at home and being connected through a telepresence to a therapist,” he says. “So in one window, there's a therapist who's encouraging the patient or helping control the desktop, and in the other window, there's the person who's receiving help.”

虚拟疗法

虚拟现实是一种给予用户身临其境感觉的技术，在治疗多种物理和心理疾病方面大有用武之地。

美国为数不多的医疗机构正在采用基于此技术的疗法，治疗烧伤病人和有恐怖症的人，如害怕坐飞机、蜘蛛和恐高症等。研究人员认为，此技术非常有希望治疗烧伤后紧张造成的失调和沉溺症，以及在牙痛时和医疗过程(包括化疗和理疗)中作为分散注意力的方法。

研究人员称，该技术的进步，如头戴式辨率显示器，非常有可能帮助虚拟现实在主流的治疗方法中占有一席之地。

虚拟现实通常涉及一个计算机生成的多维传感环境，用户通过接口工具进行体验，使他们沉浸于此环境，并在其中漫游，与环境中的物体和人物打交道。

在SnowWorld，这个专门为治疗烧伤病人设计的第一个虚拟环境中，那些治疗时很痛苦的病人在接受治疗时能在冰天雪地的峡谷中飞行，向雪人、圆顶建筑、机器人和站在窄窄的冰坝上或浮在河上的企鹅扔雪球。

SnowWorld的开发者Hunter Hoffman说，由于病人的注意力不再集中在伤口或疼痛上，而是在虚拟世界，所以虚拟现实疗法是成功的。

尽管虚拟现实的医学应用很有希望，但在它被广为接受和在实践中成为主流的治疗方法之前还有很多事情要做。

Greenleaf医疗集团总裁、研究科学家WalterGreenleaf说:“这要求医学虚拟现实的革新者改善技术的效率，提高物理和心理的舒适性和功能，同时还要关注医疗成本的降低。”

Greenleaf医疗集团位于美国加州Palo Alto市，是正在推进医药新技术发展的公司联盟。

Virtually Better公司总裁兼CEO Ken Graap认为，在今后五年中，有些公司将制造出无线的跟踪器(能测量运动并将它转变成计算机命令的设备)，以及推出分辨力更高、视野更宽的头戴式显示器。

Graap认为，将来会出现无线的虚拟现实技术，病人不必被拴在计算机上，从而允许他们在家里接受治疗。他说：“我设想将来人们在家里有一站，通过远程方式接受医生的治疗。这样，在一个窗口中有位医生在鼓励病人或者帮助控制台式机，在另一个窗口中有个人正在接受帮助。”