Aberdeen International Airport to trial a new Virtual Reality app for passengers who may find travel challenging

Aberdeen, UK, 2018-Sep-07 — /Travel PR News/ — Aberdeen International Airport has been working with Friendly Access, a Scottish hidden disabilities charity as it looks to trial a new Virtual Reality app for passengers who may find travel challenging.

Friendly Access, together with the School of Simulation and Visualisation at The Glasgow School of Art and 3D visualisation specialists Crag3D, have devised iSenseVR.

iSenseVR is an app that will positively impact those who may experience sensory difficulties in busy environments, like airports, shopping centres and other highly populated areas.

The app is now in its final stages of development, and the team need 70 volunteers with hidden disabilities to register their interest in assisting with the research before this Friday’s deadline.

Aberdeen International Airport has facilitated development work with the app team and potential participants could attend the airport for further research.

Glyn Morris, Chief Executive, Friendly Access said: “We are currently seeking approximately 70 individuals with hidden disabilities, aged 16 and over, living in the UK, to take part into our study. As our approach is holistic, we do not target any specific hidden disability, but rather prefer to be as inclusive as possible to most hidden disabilities.

“We’re asking potential participants to use their own mobile phone and a Virtual Reality (VR) headset which we will supply, you will experience different environments and scenarios found in an airport using our VR app. We want to empower people to empower people living with hidden disabilities such as autism, learning disabilities and mental health issues to overcome their barriers in an airport environment.”

Aberdeen International Airport Duty Manager Fraser Bain said:  “We’re delighted to assist the team with the creation of the iSenseVR app in any way we can, as we all have a common interest in making airport experiences as comfortable and as relaxing as possible.”

The app is funded by the European Social Fund and the Social Innovation Fund from the Scottish Government.

The research involves around 20 minutes’ app activity every 3 days over 1.5 months. Participants also be asked to complete a short questionnaire through the app at the end of each session.

Those interested in taking part should visit: https://friendlyaccess.org/prescreenisensevr/

Media contact:
media@aiairport.com
telephone: +44 (0)1224 725757

Source: Aberdeen International Airport

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