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A Dutch non-profit is strapping waterproof VR headsets on people in pools so they can “swim with dolphins.” The Dolphin Swim Club has been offering the experience, named Dolphin VR, as “dolphin-assisted therapy” since last month. While submerged, you can watch video reels of bottlenose dolphins swimming in their natural habitat. VR specialists Viemr had divers capable of holding their breath for up to 5-minutes record the footage during a 10-day shoot at the Red Sea in December 2015.
Language: English
A new non-profit organization wants to make swimming with dolphins cruelty-free and an event that can be available to all people. The Dutch company The Dolphin Swim Club may have uncovered a way to allow disabled people to enjoy a swim with dolphins using recent advances made in virtual reality.
Since the 1970s, some researchers have described the positive therapeutic effect that swimming with dolphins can have on people, particularly those with disabilities. However, so-called “dolphin therapy” is not readily available to everyone. For one thing, it can be prohibitively expensive, while the idea of people leaping into pools with captive animals has also been criticized as cruel by environmentalists. A Dutch nonprofit thinks it has the answer, though — and it involves Virtual Reality.
“Swimming with wild dolphins is something most can only dream of, and jumping into pools with captive animals has become increasingly controversial with environmentalists condemning it as cruel. But a Dutch non-profit believes it has found a way to bring people, especially the disabled, closer to such a joyful experience through the technological, immersive advances offered by virtual reality (VR).”
The Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad wrote a one-page report on the effectiveness of Virtual Reality on chronic pain treatment and as a relaxation method. The Dolphin Swim Club was mentioned as well. ‘The human brain can easily be fooled‘, says Marijke (founder of the Dolphin Swim Club). ‘Our brain can hardly distinguish a virtual experience from a real one’. Patients no longer have to fly all the way to Curaçao for so-called dolphin therapy, you can take a plunge and swim with the dolphins before going to bed.
A double page feature in the Leeuwarder Courant! The Leeuwarder Courant is the oldest daily newspaper in the Netherlands. “This is the unlikely story of an artist and her husband. Together, this couple from Leeuwarden works on a project where virtual wild dolphins help patients deal with pain and anxiety. The Dolphin Swim Club is well on its way to positively touch the lives of many Europeans and Americans.”
Over 150 hospitals and healthcare institutions worldwide provide the Dolphin Swim Club’s Wild Dolphin VR therapy. This Dutch / Swedish initiative proves to be successful for adults and children suffering from mental disabilities or autism. Starting this week, 10 Dutch hospitals will use so-called dolphin therapy. But the Dutch initiative is popular in the United States as well. In the Stanford medical centre, children undergoing heart surgery swim with dolphins before the procedure. And the wild dolphin VR has proved popular with patients suffering from chronic pain at the Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.
VR-Nerds mentioned the Dolphin Swim Club as the highlight of the VR Days 2017 in Amsterdam. We installed a converted container in the hall of the exhibition, which served as a swim tank. Naturally, we also brought all other necessary attributes: a changing room, wetsuits and our wild dolphin VR experience. ‘Well, we quickly changed into our Baywatch costumes and entered the cool water’.