Unlike traditional therapist-assisted techniques, VR therapy will be performed within the confines of a room, thus avoiding public embarrassment and violation of patient confidentiality. If the sound comes out of one little speaker and everyone talks at once, you won't understand anything, Burgess says. On the other hand, if we use two speakers we can pan the audio in such a way that the position of the audio corresponds to the position of the talking head. That makes it a lot easier to pay attention to what you're trying to listen to. Other important areas of VR work at Tech include improving imaging methods and ways of navigating through virtual space, and better object-manipulation techniques.
Related research is ongoing in animation, multimedia and data visualization.
Planning a construction project is very complex. Once the process begins, corrections or improvements are costly and difficult. Georgia Tech faculty members and students are devising a virtual construction simulation that allows an individual to walk through the site and among the equipment to look for logistics problems before the ground is broken. History students may one day be able to walk across the battlefield at Antietam, or to venture inside the wreck of the Titanic. Telepresence could have important adaptations in situations too hazardous for humans, and could open a whole new way of exploring outer space.