Abstract:

Virtual Reality technology allows us to train for different processes in a real way, without having to manipulate real objects. This opportunity is starting to be used in the industrial field, education and also medicine. In this article we will study this last option: by allowing virtual immersion in an auscultation room the student will be able to auscultate a patient and listening to the different heart sounds to identify the patient state and heart diseases.

The system we present, developed by the company ARSOFT, specialized in Augmented and Virtual Reality systems, and the research group VisualMed Systems of the University of Salamanca, allows us to train for the auscultation process as many times as you want by simply using a smartphone and virtual reality glasses, that can be acquiered for less than ten euros.

The system is divided into two software tools. One of these tools convert any Android smartphone into a remote control, allowing the student to move the stethoscope on the patient skin. The other tool is the virtual reality software, that allows the user to train finding the different ausultation points and hearing the different sounds depending on the auscultation points and the heart diseases that patient suffers.

One of the main differences of this system, in comparison with other similar virtual reality systems, is the interactive option: the system will detect the movement of the student's hands and will use this information to move the stethoscope, allowing him to interact with the virtual environment in a real way. We want the user to be active, taking part in the process and teaching him in a different way, using virtual reality.

Virtual Reality will become an essential medical tool for medical training purposes, and this research is an example of the educational tools we will be using in the next years.

Keywords:

Virtual reality, medicine, educational virtual tools.