An Augmented Reality System for the Treatment of Phobia to Small Animals Viewed Via an Optical See-Through HMD: Comparison With a Similar System Viewed Via a Video See-Through HMD

Abstract

This article presents an optical see-through (OST) Augmented Reality system for the treatment of phobia to small animals. The technical characteristics of the OST system are described, and a comparative study of the sense of presence and anxiety in a nonphobic population (24 participants) using the OST and an equivalent video see-though (VST) system is presented. The results indicate that if all participants are analyzed, the VST system induces greater sense of presence than the OST system. If the participants who had more fear are analyzed, the two systems induce a similar sense of presence. For the anxiety level, the two systems provoke similar and significant anxiety during the experiment.

Acknowledgments

We thank Cristina Botella and Rosa Baños for their help and LabHuman for letting us use the material for developing and testing the systems.