Integration of Augmented Reality and Brain-Computer Interface Technologies for Health Care Applications: Exploratory and Prototyping Study

BackgroundAugmented reality (AR) and brain-computer interface (BCI) are promising technologies that have a tremendous potential to revolutionize health care. While there has been a growing interest in these technologies for medical applications in the recent years, the combin...

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Main Author: Anya Andrews
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: JMIR Publications 2022-04-01
Series:JMIR Formative Research
Online Access:https://formative.jmir.org/2022/4/e18222
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author Anya Andrews
author_facet Anya Andrews
author_sort Anya Andrews
collection DOAJ
description BackgroundAugmented reality (AR) and brain-computer interface (BCI) are promising technologies that have a tremendous potential to revolutionize health care. While there has been a growing interest in these technologies for medical applications in the recent years, the combined use of AR and BCI remains a fairly unexplored area that offers significant opportunities for improving health care professional education and clinical practice. This paper describes a recent study to explore the integration of AR and BCI technologies for health care applications. ObjectiveThe described effort aims to advance an understanding of how AR and BCI technologies can effectively work together to transform modern health care practice by providing new mechanisms to improve patient and provider learning, communication, and shared decision-making. MethodsThe study methods included an environmental scan of AR and BCI technologies currently used in health care, a use case analysis for a combined AR-BCI capability, and development of an integrated AR-BCI prototype solution for health care applications. ResultsThe study resulted in a novel interface technology solution that enables interoperability between consumer-grade wearable AR and BCI devices and provides the users with an ability to control digital objects in augmented reality using neural commands. The article discusses this novel solution within the context of practical digital health use cases developed during the course of the study where the combined AR and BCI technologies are anticipated to produce the most impact. ConclusionsAs one of the pioneering efforts in the area of AR and BCI integration, the study presents a practical implementation pathway for AR-BCI integration and provides directions for future research and innovation in this area.
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spelling doaj.art-912bfd93a0604ec1aa02d112891be6672023-08-28T21:27:31ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Formative Research2561-326X2022-04-0164e1822210.2196/18222Integration of Augmented Reality and Brain-Computer Interface Technologies for Health Care Applications: Exploratory and Prototyping StudyAnya Andrewshttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9205-5276 BackgroundAugmented reality (AR) and brain-computer interface (BCI) are promising technologies that have a tremendous potential to revolutionize health care. While there has been a growing interest in these technologies for medical applications in the recent years, the combined use of AR and BCI remains a fairly unexplored area that offers significant opportunities for improving health care professional education and clinical practice. This paper describes a recent study to explore the integration of AR and BCI technologies for health care applications. ObjectiveThe described effort aims to advance an understanding of how AR and BCI technologies can effectively work together to transform modern health care practice by providing new mechanisms to improve patient and provider learning, communication, and shared decision-making. MethodsThe study methods included an environmental scan of AR and BCI technologies currently used in health care, a use case analysis for a combined AR-BCI capability, and development of an integrated AR-BCI prototype solution for health care applications. ResultsThe study resulted in a novel interface technology solution that enables interoperability between consumer-grade wearable AR and BCI devices and provides the users with an ability to control digital objects in augmented reality using neural commands. The article discusses this novel solution within the context of practical digital health use cases developed during the course of the study where the combined AR and BCI technologies are anticipated to produce the most impact. ConclusionsAs one of the pioneering efforts in the area of AR and BCI integration, the study presents a practical implementation pathway for AR-BCI integration and provides directions for future research and innovation in this area.https://formative.jmir.org/2022/4/e18222
spellingShingle Anya Andrews
Integration of Augmented Reality and Brain-Computer Interface Technologies for Health Care Applications: Exploratory and Prototyping Study
JMIR Formative Research
title Integration of Augmented Reality and Brain-Computer Interface Technologies for Health Care Applications: Exploratory and Prototyping Study
title_full Integration of Augmented Reality and Brain-Computer Interface Technologies for Health Care Applications: Exploratory and Prototyping Study
title_fullStr Integration of Augmented Reality and Brain-Computer Interface Technologies for Health Care Applications: Exploratory and Prototyping Study
title_full_unstemmed Integration of Augmented Reality and Brain-Computer Interface Technologies for Health Care Applications: Exploratory and Prototyping Study
title_short Integration of Augmented Reality and Brain-Computer Interface Technologies for Health Care Applications: Exploratory and Prototyping Study
title_sort integration of augmented reality and brain computer interface technologies for health care applications exploratory and prototyping study
url https://formative.jmir.org/2022/4/e18222
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