VVVR

Project: Multiuser, Interactive VR Experience
Team: Plus Four
Role: Co-creator
Awards: Vimeo Staff Pick, Epic Mega Grant for Innovative use of the Unreal Engine Platform

VVVR(Visual Voice Virtual Reality) is a voice controlled tool for self-exploration and well being. It combines virtual reality and audio effects to temporarily free the mind from language and cultivate awareness of the present moment.

In VVVR, two people sit across from one another, represented in the virtual space with corresponding avatars. When either person makes sound, It is translated into glowing geometry that flows from their mouth. The vocal audio is harmonically processed and fed back through the headphones. Its texture and volume determine the look and behavior of the flowing objects.

Users report many therapeutic benefits, including reduced social anxiety, relaxation, and elevated mood.

“As [my VVVR partner] and I created a visual language together, self-consciousness ebbed, and so did my feeling of straddling a ‘here’ and ‘there.’ Now, I'm just here. And just as important--and believe me, I realize how this sounds-- here, I'm just now.”

-Peter Rubin

Wired Magazine

“There is something liberating about being in an environment that dramatically alters visual identity and distorts voice to the degree that words are difficult to decipher. It frees us from norms of self-presentation and the habits of conversation, inviting exploration with sound to connect.”

-Margaret E. Morris, Ph.D.

Psychology Today