Editorial: Immersive media in connected health—volume II

TL;DR

This editorial discusses how immersive media, like Extended Reality (XR), is transforming healthcare by enhancing training and interventions through realistic visualization.

Contribution

The paper highlights the importance of rigorous validation and standardization of immersive technologies in healthcare applications.

Findings

XR provides valuable training aids for healthcare learners through immersive visualization.

Healthcare is a key focus area for immersive media due to its need for accurate imaging and presence.

Research emphasizes calibrating and standardizing immersive technologies for effective healthcare integration.

Abstract

Immersive media, particularly Extended Reality (XR), is at the forefront of revolutionizing the healthcare industry. Healthcare provides XR with “silver bullet” use cases that add value and societal effect to the technology. Healthcare interventions frequently require imaging or visualization to be applied correctly, and the sensation of presence that XR can provide is crucial as a training aid for healthcare learners. From anatomy to surgical training, multimodal immersion in the reality of a medical situation increases the impact of an XR resource compared to the usual approach. Thus, healthcare has become a specialized focus for the immersive media sector, with a multitude of development and research underway. This research subject, which followed on from the previous one, yielded an eclectic group of works spanning the gamut of immersive media applications in healthcare. The underlying theme in these works remains a consistent focus on calibrating, validating, verifying, and standardizing procedures, instruments, and technologies in order to constantly rigorously streamline the means and materials that will integrate immersive technologies in healthcare. In that spirit, we share the findings from this research topic as a motivator for rigorous and evidence-based use of immersive media in digital and connected health.