New eye-tracking controlled VR system enhances MRI scans of young children

Researchers at King's College London have developed a new eye-tracking technology that could enable young children to have an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience while undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

A new eye-tracking technology has been developed that enables instant and reliable gaze-based human-computer interaction without any explicit setup effort. By integrating this technology as a control interface into MR-enabled VR systems, even young children can instantly enjoy an immersive and interactive VR experience during an MRI scan.

The new eye-tracking controlled VR system was tested on 23 children aged between 2 and 13 years old, allowing them to play games and watch movies using only their eyes during an MRI scan.

“Our new technique shows the potential to overcome nearly all of the limitations of existing systems. Our approach may open up new possibilities for awake MR studies of young children for both clinical and research purposes, reducing the need for critical interventions such as anesthesia and enabling a new generation of MR-based studies of awake brain processing during this formative period of life,” said Kun Qiang, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the Center for the Developmental Brain in the School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences and lead author of the study.

In human-computer interaction (HCI), gaze estimation is the process of determining where a person is looking. Gaze-based HCI systems most often require calibration or complex setup at the start of each session, preventing immediate control. This limitation impacts usability and makes immediate interaction difficult, especially for young children who prefer to use technology easily and quickly.

A research team from the School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences has developed innovative eye-tracking technology that gives users instant control. The technology forms the core interaction interface of a groundbreaking MR-enabled VR system designed to immerse children in interactive virtual worlds during an MRI scan.

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MRI scans are noisy and stressful, especially for children, and often cause discomfort and body movements that can lead to a failed scan. Immediate interaction is crucial as it can get children interested in VR quickly, reducing anxiety and minimizing body movements.

To make the gaze-controlled VR experience engaging, games and video content have been developed to be easily customizable to each child's preferences. It's easy to interact with: when a child keeps staring at an item on the screen, an action is triggered – play a game, watch a video or interact with a favorite cartoon character. Maintaining a continuous sense of control is key to immersion in a VR system, which is why our innovative gaze-tracking system automatically updates based on the user's actions. The more the child interacts, the more accurate the gaze estimation becomes.

The VR experience also aims to reduce as much as possible the tendency for children to move their heads while being scanned, but it cannot completely eliminate head movement. To solve this problem, the research team also used the DISORDER method, previously developed at King's College London for MRI scans of babies, which retrospectively corrects for movement in scanned images.

Combining these two innovations will allow for the creation of a new system capable of obtaining high-quality MR images of the awake infant brain.

Professor Joe Hajnal, professor of imaging science at the Centre for the Developmental Brain in the School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences and programme leader on the study, said: “The use of phones, tablets and computers for entertainment and other important tasks is commonplace today. Everyone expects these devices to be instantly responsive and intuitive to use, so forcing users to go through adjustment processes and start-up delays becomes increasingly challenging for them.

“The instant gaze technology we have developed makes the gaze-based user interface totally comfortable and natural to use. We have seen extremely positive feedback from both children and adults, suggesting that this technology has the potential to revolutionize MR examinations and bring wide-ranging benefits.”

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