Table 6.
Virtual reality breathing studies: feasibility and findings.
| Study | Feasibility | Findings | Label |
| Abushakra et al [7], 2014 | VRa breathing therapy in real time | 85% accuracy | Positive |
| Betka et al [49], 2022 | VR respiratory rehabilitation for COVID-19 patients | Improvement in breathing comfort and enhancement of dyspnea recover. | Positive |
| Blum et al [25], 2019 | VR breath gaming for stress monitoring | Increase in relaxation self-efficacy and reduction in mind wandering. | Positive |
| Blum et al [10], 2020 | VR for breathing exercise | Satisfactory user experience, breath awareness, and greater focus on slow diaphragmatic breathing. | Positive |
| Brammer et al [41], 2021 | VR for breathing-based stress training for police officers | Illustrated the feasibility of stress exposure biofeedback with examples of training in police officers. | Positive |
| Charoensook et al [31], 2019 | VR system for physical fitness improvement | Significant difference in the average heart rate between traditional systems and the VR system. | Neutral |
| van Delden et al [5], 2020 | VR for lung function tracking in children with asthma | 100% of the estimated volume goal (full exhalation). | Positive |
| Feinberg et al [47], 2022 | VR for breathing training through meditation | Quantitative and qualitative indicators showed an increase in meditation ability after completing the sessions. | Positive |
| Heng et al [43], 2020 | VR for pulmonary rehabilitation | Minor technical issue with the sensor device. | Neutral |
| Hu et al [35], 2021 | VR for pulmonary rehabilitation in children | Increase in motivation among children and improvement in their adherence to breathing exercises. | Positive |
| Gummidela et al [45], 2022 | VR for relaxation training | Nongame interventions were better at promoting moment relaxation. Game-based interventions were more successful at promoting deep breathing during stressful tasks. | Positive |
| Jung et al [27], 2020 | VR for COPDb rehabilitation | Improvements in the physical ability and psychological well-being of participants. | Positive |
| Kluge et al [36], 2021 | VR for stress management in defense force groups | VR-based apps can develop stress management skills in a workplace setting. | Positive |
| Ladakis et al [37], 2021 | VR for stress reduction in a work environment | VR can be a simple and useful tool for the immediate decrease of stress in various real-life environments. | Positive |
| Mevlevioğlu et al [38], 2021 | VR for height exposure (acrophobia) | A correlation between arousal and virtual height showed that the developed VR experience is capable of producing the wanted effect. | Positive |
| Michela et al [44], 2022 | VR for stress management in police officers | Improvement in breathing control, with a positive effect on breathing-induced low-frequency HRVc. | Positive |
| Patibanda et al [34], 2017 | VR for breath gaming | Relaxation of mood among participants. | Positive |
| Prpa et al [26], 2018 | VR for breathing awareness | Awareness of breathing while playing on the VR system. | Positive |
| Quintero et al [32], 2019 | VR for slow-paced breathing exercises to support mental health | Higher relaxation level of participants during a no biofeedback VR scenario. | Neutral |
| Rockstroh et al [39], 2021 | VR for fostering diaphragmatic breathing | VR-based breathing training increased perceived breath awareness, improved diaphragmatic breathing, increased relaxation, decreased perceived stress, and reduced symptoms of burnout. | Positive |
| Rodrigues et al [50], 2022 | VR for controlling dyspnea and pain symptoms in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 | Tiredness, shortness of breath, and anxiety decreased, and the feeling of well-being increased. | Positive |
| van Rooij et al [40], 2016 | VR for breathing therapy to reduce anxiety in children | Decrease in self-reported anxiety. | Positive |
| Rutkowski et al [42], 2021 | VR for pulmonary rehabilitation | Reduction in stress and emotional tension between prerehabilitation and postrehabilitation. | Positive |
| Shih et al [24], 2019 | VR for breath gaming to strengthen cardiac functioning | 75.5% accuracy in breathing phase detection. | Positive |
| Soyka et al [28], 2016 | VR for home breathing therapy for stress | Improvement in stress monitoring techniques and increase in HRV. | Positive |
| Desnoyers-Stewart et al [33], 2019 | VR for breath gaming to mediate physiological synchrony for social connection | Positive outcomes suggest that the system is functional. | Positive |
| Tabor et al [8], 2020 | VR for respiratory pneumonia rehabilitation | The system makes use of state-of-the-art breath-sensing techniques without specialized sensing hardware. | Positive |
| Tao et al [46], 2020 | VR for playing a music instrument with breath | The latency perception threshold is higher for inexperienced participants than experienced participants. | Positive |
| Tatzgern et al [48], 2022 | VR for interacting with different scenarios with breathing patterns | The system can enhance the training experience and improve breathing awareness. | Positive |
| Tinga et al [29], 2018 | VR for breath gaming for meditation | Reduction in anxiety and stress. | Positive |
| Tu et al [6], 2020 | VR for home breath gaming | Errors lower than 0.61 s and 15 ms, and improvement in training effectiveness and experience. | Positive |
| Zafar et al [30], 2018 | Video biofeedback system to teach breathing control | Biofeedback led to a better attentional-cognitive performance and helped participants to learn breathing control. | Positive |
aVR: virtual reality.
bCOPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
cHRV: heart rate variability.