Tech & Innovation in Healthcare

Question: What is the difference between VR, AR, and XR technologies?

Nebraska Subscriber

Answer: Virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR or XR) are three technologies that have gained a lot of ground in healthcare in recent years; however, there are distinct differences between them.

With VR, the user puts on a headset and becomes immersed in the environment on the headset’s screen. The technology gives the user the feeling that they’re somewhere completely different from the room they’re standing in. As the user turns their head and moves around the room, they’ll see the virtual space as if they were physically there.

Healthcare providers will prescribe VR as a therapy for patients who suffer from chronic pain or to distract patients during procedures.

AR adds virtual elements to your existing vision. An example of this is by turning on a filter on your smartphone camera where a cat’s face is superimposed on your image. In healthcare settings, physicians can use smart glasses where crucial information about the patient is displayed on the glasses for only the user’s eyes.

Combining AR and VR technologies is MR or XR. With this reality-altering technology, the user wears a headset, but the headset shows the real world while the user selects elements to augment their view.

For example, the user puts on their headset and can see their healthcare practice thanks to the headset’s external facing cameras. Then the user can open their calendar to see their daily schedule, review a patient’s chart prior to a visit, and respond to emails within the headset, while still having a view of the office.