Cultural VR for the elderly: setting up the experience

DIGITAL HERITAGE (2025) S. Campana, D. Ferdani, H. Graf, G. Guidi, Z. Hegarty, S. Pescarin, and F. Remondino (Editors) Cultural VR for the elderly: setting up the experience A. Antoniou1, S. Sylaiou2, G. Lepouras3, A. Theodoropoulos3, M. Kyriazi1 1University of West Attica, Greece 2International Hellenic University, Greece 3University of the Peloponnese, Greece Abstract The paper presents the Firefly project (Fostering vIrtual heRitage Experience For eLderlY) aiming at creating virtual cultural experiences for people over 65 years of age. As the world population grows older, elderly people form a large segment of the population and they are also an important target group for cultural experiences. Cultural heritage can help keep people over 65 physically and cognitively active improving their wellbeing. In addition, people over 65 can provide their valuable knowledge to enrich cultural heritage and pass their knowledge to younger generations. Despite the benefits from involving older adults in cultural heritage experiences, many cultural heritage sites remain out of reach for people of this age group. There are many reasons for this exclusion, like mobility and accessibility issues, financial issues, etc. and important heritage sites, like Delos, cannot be visited by elderly people. Firefly is preparing 3D models of Delos important sites, like the ancient theatre and the House of Dionysos. Firefly is also using a film narrating historical events, capable of involving participants emotionally. Data already collected from older people from two preliminary studies show elders’ positive attitudes towards the use of Virtual Reality (VR), but they also revealed their concerns regarding the usability of VR headsets. In addition, the participants also expressed their concerns regarding the ethical use of cutting-edge technologies like VR. Building on the preliminary studies findings, during the next experimentation phase, Firefly will use an interactive CAVE environment to allow elders to access the cultural content, avoiding the use of headsets, while virtually exploring the routes of Pausanias in Peloponnese. CCS Concepts •Human-centered computing →Empirical studies in accessibility; 1. Introduction The European population is aging and as it stands, one fifth of the European population is over 65 years of age. European statistics show that the aging population is a long-term trend that started several years ago [EC25]. Thus, it looks like our societies will have a high percentage of people over 65 and this segment of the population needs to remain physically, cognitively and emotionally healthy for many reasons on personal and social levels, like increasing quality of life, enhancing social cohesion, sharing knowledge but also to decrease cost of social welfare and healthcare [Tho04]. Older adults need to continue vivid activity in the social, political and economic sphere to ensure democracy and social growth. But to keep older adults healthy, society needs to provide them with the tools for physical and mental health [NRB*07], [ASA*22]. Cultural heritage is an excellent medium to keep older adults engaged, active and healthy, since it can provide opportunities for physical activity and socialization. In addition, when older adults become active members of the recent past, they can share their experiences and knowledge with younger generations, allowing intergenerational dialogue, dissemination of knowledge but also strengthening personal feelings of self-worth [DGF21], [Ka85], [KRA17]. 2. Beyond the state of the art: The Firefly project The Firefly project (fostering virtual heritage experience for elderly, , accessed in April 2025) aims at creating cultural Extended Reality experiences for people over 65 years. From technology design to the creation of relevant and appropriate content, Firefly experiments with different tools and methodologies to design ultimate solutions. Furthermore, the project has a strong focus on the evaluation of the created experiences, thus it collects and analyses different types of data, like qualitative data from interviews and observations to quantitative physiological data, like electroencephalography waves, brain-computer interaction data and eye-tracking data. In addition, the project develops personalized cultural content to enhance cultural access for elderly people who are either cognitively heathy or have mild cognitive impairments. Thus, the project creates and uses virtual cultural experiences of different sorts, like digital narratives on recent historical events, like the end of the Greco-Turkish war of 1922 and the resulting refugee crisis [SG22], that many older adults remember stories from parents © 2025 The Author(s). Proceedings published by Eurographics - The European Association for Computer Graphics. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: 10.2312/dh.20253265 https://diglib.eg.org https://www.eg.org 2 of 4 A. Antoniou et al. / Cultural VR for the elderly and grandparents and recreations of ancient worlds that no longer exist, like ancient settlements and temples. Firefly uses these different types of cultural experiences (from digital narratives to films and 3D virtual worlds) to study different aspects of engagement with technology and content and different ways older adults engage (i.e. emotional engagement, cognitive responses, etc.). The project builds on past research that revealed design challenges in involving older adults in digital cultural experiences and in particular extended reality ones [SS21]. However, there are clear indications that when extended reality applications are well designed, they can have multiple benefits for the elders, like training of motor and cognitive skills, and cognitive benefits for people with cognitive impairments and mild dementia [BA20], [GJA*15], [dBSP*10], [KMR*18], [MSF*23]. Despite the benefits that virtual reality might have for older adults, few research efforts focus on cultural virtual experiences for this age group. Since past research has shown that it is of high importance for older adults to have opportunities for emotional and sensory input [CVN09], [TC16] as well as opportunities to socialize and remain socially active [VWTV20], VR cultural experiences could be valuable tools. Thus, Firefly attempts to be one of the first research efforts focusing entirely on virtual cultural experiences for people over 65 years of age. 3. Content dimensions Firefly develops or reuses digital cultural content of different characteristics. There are primarily three types of content used for data collection: 1. a 3D reconstruction of the Ancient Theatre and the House of Dionysos of Delos, 2. a film about the 1922 refugee crisis after the end of the Greco-Turkish war and 3. a VR CAVE experience of the routes of Pausanias in Peloponnese. The island of Delos is among the most important archaeological sites in Greece. It is in the Aegean Sea and is a part of the Cyclades islands. Being the birthplace of two Gods (Apollo and Artemis), Delos is one of the most important archaeological sites in Greece. The entire island is now a protected archaeological site and is covered with ruins of temples, agora, villas, etc. However, reaching Delos and exploring it, is a rather demanding endeavor, since there are mostly connections to the neighboring island of Mykonos which again is rather far from the Greek capital, Athens. In addition, the shadeless and rocky terrain of the island is not very welcoming for people with mobility issues and/or over 65. Firefly digitized two important sites of the island, the ancient theatre and the House of Dionysos, known for the beautiful mosaics, to create virtual experiences for older adults and allow them to explore the sites from the comfort of other locations, like their homes. A different type of content used, was the short film by Michalis Manousakis “"Like a letter to memory, 1922-2022" presenting the life of a refugee from Asia Minor and the hardships she faced after leaving her birthplace in Smyrna. The film was projected in a dark room to increase immersion and create a pseudo feeling of VR engagement [BH22]. The third type of content is created for a 3D CAVE experience that will guide participants through the natural beauties of Peloponnese using the same routes that the ancient geographer Pausanias explored and described in 2nd century AD. The landscapes presented in this 3D experience are probably very similar to what Pausanias would have encountered 2000 years ago, creating a unique connection between the past and present. The primary reason for using the 3 types of content is because they present different landscapes, different stories, and target different levels of emotional engagement from the participants. In addition, the three types of content allow different levels of interactivity with the virtual environment. For example, in the Delos experience participants can walk through the island and choose their path, while they could also manipulate 3D objects, while the Refugee film does not allow any participant interaction. The different types of content also use different types of equipment, since the Delos experience requires Head Mounted Displays, while the Pausanias routes require the use of a VR CAVE environment. Finally, the three types of content provide different levels of immersion, since the Refugee film is on the low end of an immersive experience while the Delos and the Pausanias routes are created for full immersion. Some experiences have narration by a storyteller (Refugee film, Pausanias routes), while others only provide an interactive visual experience (Delos), and some use sounds and music (Refugee film, Pausanias routes), while others do not (Delos). Exposing the participants to different virtual experiences aimed at collecting data related to the different dimensions of the content and ultimately discovering elders’ 3D content preferences. Furthermore, the three different types of experiences would also collect data on elders’ preferences regarding types of technology, as well as levels of interactions and immersion. 4. Preliminary studies and findings The first study focused on presenting virtual reality (VR) to people over the age of 65. In addition, equipment and content was evaluated by 21 participants and important observations emerged. Older adults seem to require significantly more processing time of information presented to them and need time to also share their personal stories that often connect to the presented content. Participants also seemed to process information in a serial fashion (bit by bit) and did not show signs of processing information as a whole, but rather as fragmented elements, often missing crucial details. The novelty of virtual reality triggered strong emotional responses, ranging from enthusiasm to hesitation, with some expressing practical and ethical concerns in using the technology independently. They were concerned about potential biases and possible political instrumentalization of such technologies. Participants showed reluctance to handle the equipment, at least at first, highlighting potential technology acceptance issues and the need for further support. There were also certain concerns about the possible interference of Head Mounted Displays and Virtual Reality glasses with the use of vision glasses, hearing aids and even wigs, leading the Firefly to team to move towards a CAVE solution that would not require wearable technology. For a complete report of this study, please see [AVK*25]. During the second study, 8 participants over 65 years of age, viewed the Refugee film and discussed it in 2 focus groups. Data analysis revealed that the participants enjoyed very much the emo- © 2025 The Author(s). Proceedings published by Eurographics - The European Association for Computer Graphics. A. Antoniou et al. / Cultural VR for the elderly 3 of 4 tional content presented to them and discussed how VR content should also incorporate affective elements. Participants also commented positively on the use of relevant sounds in the experience. They liked the music that accompanied the narration in the film, since it was music from 1922, and they thought that it significantly enhanced the experience. Similarly, visual elements in the film that enhanced the ambience of the past, like historical photos and hand drawn portraits of the characters, were also appreciated by the participants. Participants clearly reported that they wanted real life stories and not fictional, since they have a need to connect with real historical events and not fiction. The use of sound in all experiences was carefully used to be relevant to the visual experience. However, although the sound levels were satisfactory for younger adults (student volunteers, researchers and social workers), the study participants mentioned that they had problems with the volume and wanted the sound to be louder and possibly the narrator to speak slower, although they liked the calmness in the narrator’s voice. They also reported that they preferred the slower pace and not frantic rhythms, like many contemporary film productions. Furthermore, they also very much liked the short duration of the video (10 minutes) because they feel tired with longer ones, as they explained. After the end of the focus groups, and because the study took place in a local library, the participants had the opportunity to see, browse through, and read books related to the refugee issue of 1922. They were also informed about these books by the librarian and could borrow them if they wished, thus creating a more complete cultural experience. 5. Interactive cave environment Based on the findings from the first two studies, the Firefly team started designing a new virtual cultural experience that would incorporate the requirements of the studies’ participants. For avoiding the use of wearable technology, the use of the Interactive VR CAVE of the university of Peloponnese was suggested. In addition, the content requirements made the team decide on the use of the Pausanias routes experience, respecting elders’ needs. Regarding the VR CAVE called the MobiCave, the CAVE can simultaneously support more than one user, allowing for social virtual experiences of users and bystanders, and it was particularly designed for social and/or cultural and/or gaming and interactive experiences. However, it can be also used by single users. The MobiCave system comprises three walls and a floor projection. Users do not wear stereoscopic glasses. The system can support 3D projection using the anaglyph technique. The MobiCave has a diameter of 3.5 meters and a height of 3 meters. The monitor setup is attached to a custom-made aluminum truss structure. The system uses a 15-monitor setup with a borderless design (0.9 mm bezel). The side monitors (three screens on each edge) can be adjusted to 120-degree or 90-degree placements. The installation features a pull-out mount on custom video wall mounts. A high-brightness, high-resolution projector is positioned at the top-middle of the truss structure to display special effects and multimedia content onto a special reflective floor surface. The system is controlled by a single computer that synchronizes all 15 displays. A ZED2i tracking camera is used for motion and gesture recognition, enabling positional tracking, spatial mapping, object detection, and body tracking. Finally, a 5.1 surround sound system provides audio for MobiCave. For a complete technical report on the MobiCave please see [TSP*23]. Therefore, the MobiCave will allow further experimentation with virtual cultural experiences for people over 65 years. The designed experiences respect all the elicited requirements from the first two studies and a new data collection phase is planned for spring 2025. 6. Moving forward Wishing to provide cultural virtual experiences for older adults, the Firefly project gathers design requirements and proceeds with implementation of virtual reality technology that supports elders’ diverse needs. The two studies completed have already revealed valuable insights into people’s cognitive, emotional, usability, etc. needs in cultural experiences. Hopefully the upcoming MobiCave study will strengthen knowledge regarding cultural virtual experiences for the elderly. Finally, Firefly will also evaluate the experiences it provides with the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data. In particular, it will move beyond the analyses of focus group and interview data, but it will also collect and analyze physiological data from electroencephalography. 7. Acknowledgments The research project is implemented in the framework of H.F.R.I called “Basic research Financing (Horizontal support of all Sciences)” under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan“Greece 2.0” funded by the European Union—NextGenerationEU (FIREFLY-Fostering vIrtual heritage Experience For eLderlY, H.F.R.I. Project Number: 15497). The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Institutional Review Board (or Ethics Committee) of International Hellenic University (protocol code 88/2024 for the first user study) and by the Ethics Committee of the University of West Attica (protocol code 89330/14-10-2024 for the second user study) for studies involving humans. We are also grateful to Ms Chalari, Ms Selimolari, Mr Kolokythas and Ms Plota for assisting with data collection, as well as to all study participants. 8. References [AVK*25] ANTONIOU, A., VASSILAKIS, C., KANTIANIS, G., et al. 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