Hannah Qiao

Stress and poor sleep remain pervasive challenges in modern life, yet traditional relaxation practices such as pranayama (breathing exercises) require guidance, discipline, and environments that are often difficult to sustain. VR–based relaxation tools have emerged as alternatives, but their abrupt immersion into fully virtual environments can feel disruptive and misaligned with the gradual nature of meditative practices. To address this gap, we collaborated with pranayama practitioners in a co-design process to develop Zenflow, an MR system that blends subtle visuals and breathing cues to gradually transform the user’s surroundings into a restorative virtual space. We evaluated the system in a 3 week within-subjects study (N=12), comparing traditional Pranayama with two variations of Zenflow. Results show that Zenflow transition design significantly improved self-reported sleep quality and objective measures of stress and sleep. Our work contributes design insights and evidence that gradual environmental transition can improve MR systems for stress management.

People with a fear of being in water rarely engage in water activities and hence miss out on the associated health benefits. Prior research suggested virtual exposure to treat fears. However, when it comes to a fear of being in water, virtual water might not capture water’s immersive qualities, while real water can pose safety risks. We propose extended reality to combine both advantages: We conducted a study (N=12) where participants with a fear of being in water interacted with playful water-inspired virtual reality worlds while floating inside a floatation tank. Our findings, supported quantitatively by heart rate variability and qualitatively by interviews, suggest that playful extended reality could mitigate fear responses in an entertaining way. We also present insights for the design of future systems that aim to help people with a fear of being in water and other phobias by using the best of the virtual and physical worlds.

Science literacy is an increasingly important skill in the 21st century. With engagement and motivation as vital precursors to learning science, we believe introducing children to playful interactions with scientific phenomena would improve their motivations and attitudes towards science. To investigate this, we developed a tablet application where children journey in a story-driven game to capture virtual creatures by manipulating the sound measured using the built-in microphone. This game was designed with feedback from 16 children and 10 parents. In this paper, we describe the iterative design process and findings in a multi-day study with 11 more children aged between 8 and 12. Children were motivated by the game, demonstrated a strong association between sound and its behaviour in the physical world, and expressed enthusiasm to learn more in the classroom.