Breathe to Dive: Exploring a Virtual Reality Game for Treatment of Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder and chronic lung disease that affect between 70,000 and 100,000 people worldwide. Patients have to take medication and perform daily airway clearance exercises in order to mobilize sticky mucus from the lungs caused by CF. These exercises are rather repetitive and not very engaging causing patients to skip despite the health repercussions. In collaboration with a physiotherapist, we have developed a virtual reality diving game that diegetically incorporates the breathing exercise by translating it into movement through the underwater world. Initial user tests have shown that our combination of physiological input and virtual reality creates a compelling and immersive experience. However, it was also shown to be a task with widely differing perceived difficulty so that further steps need to be undertaken to adjust the game to various user groups.