Development, Validation, and Testing of a Sonification Framework with a Neurosurgical Targeting Task
VR applications in medicine offer high potential for cost-savings and accessible educational modalities. Sonification, the use of non-speech audio to convey information, is also increasingly complex and viable for commercial applications. Together, these technologies can be leveraged to improve performance in medical tasks and training. This thesis demonstrates the ground-up research and development towards the integration of modular sonification technology in a VR neurosurgery simulation. The primary goal is to examine the effects of sonification on task performance in these scenarios and affirm the viability of some of the methods incorporated into the technology. The findings show that, while virtual reality in both the audio and visual domains can result in a loss of precision when compared to the real world, performance improves when more complex tasks are paired with sonic feedback, demonstrating potential for integration of these areas of research. The developed tools are intended for re-use and extensibility.
Virtual Reality, Extended Reality, Sonification, Parameter mapping sonification, External Ventricular Drain, Neurosurgery, Surgical Simulation, Targeting Task, Human Performance
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