Instrumenting a Virtual Reality Headset to Monitor Changes in Electroencephalograms of PTSD Patients During Multisensory Immersion

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a promising tool to help treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, as well as help patients manage their anxiety. More recently, multisensory immersive experiences involving audio-visual-olfactory stimuli have been shown to lead to improved relaxation states. Despite these advances, very little is still known about the psychophysiological changes resulting from these interventions, and outcomes need to be monitored via questionnaires and interviews at the end of the intervention. In this article, we propose to instrument a VR headset with several biosensors to allow for the tracking of neural changes throughout the intervention, as well as track the progress of different neuromarkers, namely powers across the five conventional electroencephalogram (EEG) frequency subbands computed at the frontal, central, parietal, and occipital areas of the brain. In total, 20 participants diagnosed with PTSD by their medical doctors took part in the experiment and underwent a 12-session multisensory nature immersion protocol. We show the changes that were observed for those who benefited and those who did not benefit from the intervention, leading to insights on potential new markers of intervention outcomes that could save patients and medical professionals time and resources. The proposed headset also allowed for changes in arousal states and EEG patterns to be tracked, thus providing additional insights on the disorder, as well as the effects of the intervention on patient symptoms.