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Understanding experiences of older adults in virtual reality environments with a subway fire disaster scenario

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Abstract

Training to cope with fire disaster situations utilizing virtual reality (VR) environments as educational materials is becoming universalized. It is widely accepted that VR enables young adult trainees to undergo tactical training in potential disaster situations. However, little is known whether older adults are satisfied with using such a technique for disaster response training. To address this insufficiency, we created a VR environment in a subway fire disaster scenario and conducted an experiment, wherein 13 young and 9 older adults were asked to explore the VR environment. We then conducted surveys and semi-structured interviews involving the participants to understand their experiences. The analysis of results revealed that compared to young adults, older adults tended to move greater distances, take longer times, felt less afraid and scared, and experienced less difficulty in manipulating the controller. Subsequently, we suggest design opportunities for creating VR environments for more effective training of older adults.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the 2021 Research Fund of the University of Seoul.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kyung Hee University, 1732 Deogyeong-daero, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea

    Subin Park, Hansu Lee, Minji Kwon & Heejae Jung

  2. University of Seoul, 163 Seoulsiripdae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Hyunggu Jung

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  1. Subin Park
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  2. Hansu Lee
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  4. Heejae Jung
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Correspondence to Hyunggu Jung.

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Park, S., Lee, H., Kwon, M. et al. Understanding experiences of older adults in virtual reality environments with a subway fire disaster scenario. Univ Access Inf Soc 22, 771–783 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-022-00878-8

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