Emily O’Neal
I’m experience designer, specializing in immersive and game design. I’m based out of Brooklyn, NY.
Allergy Test VR
TOOLS: Unity, Sketch
Overview
An OFC is a medical procedure in which a food is eaten in gradually increasing amounts over time, under medical supervision, to accurately diagnose or rule out a true food allergy. Anxiety during the exam can elicit symptoms that can be confused with allergic reactions, especially among young children.
I was the lead researcher and designer working on developing the strategy for mitigating stress responses in pediatric patients by leveraging immersive technology. The goal of our research was to create a custom tailored experience that would enhance procedural efficiency, ultimately improving the outcomes of OFC procedures.
I partnered closely with doctors and other medical staff at the Sean N. Parker Center for Asthma & Allergy Research as well as patients themselves to ensure the product provided value to all end-users.
Research
We conducted 3 different studies. One for need-finding among doctors and patients, the second for general usability, and lastly a feasibility study for the MVP. Through these different studies we were trying to understand the goals, effectiveness, and usability of immersive technology in the OFC procedure.
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Medical staff believe the entire hospital experience added to the children’s stress and removing as many triggers as possible is the ideal.
- Existing distraction techniques, such as iPads, can only be used in between doses, which does not help reduce the patient’s stress related to eating their allergen during a dose.
- Young patients have large reactions to the taste of doses and will do everything in their power (tantrums, etc.) to avoid starting or finishing a dose.
Proposed Solutions
Engaging all stakeholders at the hospital and at my lab, I proposed the following goals:
- Create a virtual reality game for patients to play during dosing, complete with spoon-tracking capability to facilitate eating in headset
- Make eating the player’s main input into the game, such that they are rewarded and incentivized not only to take the dose, but to finish it
- Give staff control over the experience based on dosing progress, signaling bite completion or offering encouragement through in-game characters.
A VR game ensured full distraction from the dose, something patients and doctors indicated would be helpful. With all stakeholders on board, I began putting together storyboards for an MVP game concept.
Eating in VR
Central to the OFC process is eating allergens from a spoon, requiring us to devise a method for tracking a physical spoon in the game. We prototyped various attachment designs to ensure secure attachment without obstructing key controller functions, catering to the busy staff at the SNP Center.
To synchronize virtual and physical eating, we affixed a spoon to the Oculus controller using a 3D-printed attachment, aligning the virtual spoon with its physical counterpart's position.
Outcomes
The outbreak of the Covid shut down the hospital right as we were finishing the MVP and starting to conduct usability tests. We shifted focus from testing to preparing to hand off the MVP to our research partners for future use. Part of this process involved porting the game to the Pico 2 headset.
Later in 2020, the hospital was able to conduct a feasibility study with virtual support from my team. The results were published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. The study revealed that the OFC experience was enhanced for most patients, with many expressing a preference for playing the game during future OFCs. Future research aims to explore AR as an alternative platform to address challenges patients faced with using the spoon in the headset.