Virtual reality for visual performance enhancement in athletes

Abstract

Vision plays a fundamental role in sport, as it provides crucial information to the athlete on how, when, and where to act. It was shown that visual skills provide up to 85-95% of the sensory information received by the athlete, affecting the player's coordination of movements and balance. Previous research has shown differences in visual skills between athletes and non-athletes, as well as between expert and novice athletes. Several visual skills relevant to sports performance have been identified, such as eye-extremity coordination, static and dynamic visual acuity (VA), peripheral vision, spatial focus, reaction speed, visual search, distance perception and stereopsis. This research study analyzes the effect of HTC Vive Pro Eye virtual reality goggles and Visionary Sport software on binocular skills of basketball players. A total of 23 subjects were evaluated at the Lycée Français center in Conde de Orgaz (Madrid) during the period between March and May 2023. The protocol consisted of six treatment phases, with modifications of parameters in the visual search game that increased the difficulty of the game. Visual skills were compared before and after the treatment, as well as the two target tests performed in the first and last phases. After this training it was concluded that there was a significant improvement in positive fusional vergence (PFV) and in reaction time and motor time between the different phases. On the other hand, no significant differences were found in the times obtained in the target tests performed at the beginning and at the end of the training.