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A year ago, we announced the acquisition of Cayceo, which at the time was a competitor specializing in the hospital sector. This merger was driven by our desire to combine Lumeen’s extensive catalog of 360-degree videos with Cayceo’s interactive 3D environments to offer the most comprehensive virtual reality solution for the medical sector. That vision has now become a reality.

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A deliberately dreamlike world designed to spark the imagination

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When your patients set off on “The Ice Cave,” “The Enchanted Cabin,” “In the Heart of the Lagoon,” or “Through the Clouds,” they are immersed in a world created by passionate artists. Each environment follows a common artistic vision to ensure consistency in the settings and characters. 

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This dreamlike world, which seems to have come straight out of a dream, does not seek to resemble reality, but rather to stimulate patients’ imaginations. Visually, the imaginary version of the flamingo will not look like a real flamingo. And that’s the point! In an imaginary world, our brain accepts a flamingo that isn’t actually one. In a realistic world, our brain will be much more critical and will look for flaws in realism. 

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We do not want patients to question the realism of the environments, as this could pull them out of their state of dissociation. Especially since virtual reality Headsets are not capable of providing highly realistic interactive experiences. The dreamlike world is therefore entirely appropriate and intentional. Practitioners of medical hypnosis will recognize the connection here, as they specifically draw on their patients’ imaginations to help them visualize calm and soothing environments. In fact, our virtual reality system virtual reality used by many hypnotherapists who employ it prior to treatment sessions to relax their patients and stimulate their imaginations, thereby facilitating their entry into a hypnotic state.

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Long, captivating storylines

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Specially designed for hypnoanalgesia and sedation a hospital setting, the Cayceo experience scenarios are long enough and engaging enough to draw your patients into—and keep them in—a state of relaxation the entire duration of the treatment. 

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The “Through the Clouds” experience is the longest. The show lasts nearly an hour. The sets, atmosphere, characters, and sounds evolve over time. You begin at sunrise with soft light, then the brightness gradually fades until a beautiful sunset in shades of mauve and orange. On this journey, you’ll encounter a whale, a rabbit, a butterfly, a prima ballerina, and even a giraffe—all in the shape of clouds high in the sky. And of course, you’ll also come across a few flying flamingos!

This allows us to continue surprising patients and hold their attention for several minutes. These are not repetitive loops like those offered by other solutions, which often end up boring the patient and pulling them out of their state of relaxation. 

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Scripts designed for each environment

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We can't talk about Cayceo without mentioning the mascot, Cloudy! Cloudy is the little cloud that follows you everywhere and talks to you. He's the one who guides patients into a state of relaxation.

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In addition to being very cute, Cloudy is professional and versatile! His dialogue was designed by expert hypnotherapists, and the script is tailored to each specific environment. In addition to referencing the settings and characters to enhance the hypnotic induction, the scripts were designed with specific therapeutic goals in mind. As a result, certain environments and their accompanying scripts target different medical conditions. For example, some experiences are best suited for managinganxiety , while others are more relevant for pain management. Furthermore, Cloudy knows how to talk to children, and scripts using informal address are available. And he speaks five languages to accommodate international patients!

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A real-time, interactive 3D experience

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Real-time 3D refers to the technology used by Games engines Games generate and display three-dimensional content instantly. In the context of our virtual reality application, real-time 3D offers two major benefits:

• It facilitates the creation of highly immersive experiences. By projecting a slightly different image into each eye, it mimics the natural distance between our eyes, thereby providing a true sensation perspective and depth. 
• It enhances the experience by incorporating interactivity, with the goal of surprising and engaging the patient, thereby maximizing their level of distraction.

Real-time 3D therefore offers an experience that is profoundly different from that of immersive videos, which can seem flatter and do not allow for interactivity. Studies have also shown that a high degree of immersion, combined with interactivity, maximizes the distraction capabilities of virtual reality, thereby helping to reduce the perception of pain*.

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A tool that adapts to care pathways

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According to the care pathways, the device will be used before, during, or after a procedure that causes anxiety and/or pain. In pre- or post-operative settings, it’s fairly straightforward: sessions will often have a fixed duration of 10, 20, or 30 minutes. However, when the headset is used during a procedure, it’s never really clear how long the procedure will last. We might plan for 20 minutes, but sometimes the procedure will go faster, and we don’t want to relaxation bring the patient out of their state of relaxation . Other times, the procedure will take longer than expected, and we certainly don’t want to end the experience before the procedure is complete. That’s why we offer the option of real-time duration adjustment. This makes it possible to trigger the wake-up phase at any time. It allows healthcare teams to trigger it at the right moment—when the treatment is complete—and enables the patient to emerge from their state of relaxation , with the induction phase lasting just one minute. 

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In addition, it is possible to introduce additional distractions into the experience at a key moment during a procedure. This makes it possible, for example, to amplify the diversion of attention at that critical moment—when one is about to administer an injection, perform a puncture, or make an incision...

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Conclusion

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The addition of Cayceo experiences to our catalog is the culmination of a vision and more than a year of work, marking a major evolution in our product. This will allow us to offer a solution comprehensive solution for managinganxiety pain, and to improve the clinical effects of our device for the comfort of our patients. This marks an important milestone toward our goal of becoming the European leader in new immersive therapies. 

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Over the past few months, our development teams have done a remarkable job of enhancing these experiences and making them compatible with the new Pico G3 headset. I’d like to congratulate them—the result is simply stunning. We’re thrilled to be able to offer this content to patients and caregivers starting today caregivers

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* Hoffman, H. G., Patterson, D. R., & Carrougher, G. J. (2000). Use of Virtual Reality for Adjunctive Treatment of Adult Burn Pain During Physical Therapy: A Controlled Study. *The Clinical Journal of Pain*, 16(3), 244–250. https://doi.org/10.1097/00002508-200009000-00010