Magic Bowl Virtual Reality Analgesia

NCT07192822 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: VRAnalgesia2026
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 24
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Participants will rate how much pain they experience during several brief thermal stimulations at painful but tolerable temperatures participants pre-approve. During some of the stimuli participants will be in virtual reality, and during some stimuli participants will not be in VR. Sometimes participants will receive two brief stimuli at the same time.

Conditions

Pain Acute

Keywords

virtual reality analgesia; pain; distraction; attention

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• worst pain during one stimulus vs during two simultaneous stimuli

  graphic rating scale of worst pain intensity measured after one brief thermal pain stimuli, minimum = 0, maximum = 10, and measured again after two simultaenous thermal pain stimuli. In both cases, higher scores mean worse outcome

  measured immediately after each pain stimulus

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• worst pain during No VR vs worst pain during Virtual Reality

  measured immediately after each pain stimulus

Study Arms (4)

One thermal stimulus

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

participants receives a single brief thermal stimulus

Behavioral: One brief pain stimulus

two thermal stimuli

EXPERIMENTAL

participant receives two brief thermal stimuli at the same time

Behavioral: Two simultaneous brief thermal stimuli

immersive virtual reality

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

participant receives a brief thermal stimulus while in virtual reality

Behavioral: Virtual Reality distraction

No VR

SHAM COMPARATOR

brief thermal stimulus during no VR

Behavioral: No Virtual Reality

Interventions

Virtual Reality distraction BEHAVIORAL

Participants goes into an immersive virtual reality during a brief painful stimulus

immersive virtual reality

No Virtual Reality BEHAVIORAL

Participant receives a brief thermal stimulus during no treatment

No VR

One brief pain stimulus BEHAVIORAL

patient receives one brief pain stimulus with no simultaneous second stimulus

One thermal stimulus

Two simultaneous brief thermal stimuli BEHAVIORAL

Participants receive two brief thermal stimuli at the same time

two thermal stimuli

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Currently enrolled in a course at the University of Washington Psychology Dept., participating in the UW Psychology subject pool
• Able to read, write and comprehend English
• Able to complete study measures
• Willing to follow our UW approved instructions
• years of age or older

You may not qualify if:

• People how have already previously participated in this same study (e.g., last quarter) are not eligible to participate again.
• Not enrolled in a course at the University of Washington Psychology Dept., participating in the UW Psychology subject pool
• Not be able to read, write and comprehend English
• Younger than 18 years of age.
• Not capable of completing measures
• Not capable of indicating pain intensity,
• Not capable of filling out study measures,
• Extreme susceptibility to motion sickness,

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Washington: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Washington

Seattle, Washington, 98195, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Al-Ghamdi NA, Meyer WJ 3rd, Atzori B, Alhalabi W, Seibel CC, Ullman D, Hoffman HG. Virtual Reality Analgesia With Interactive Eye Tracking During Brief Thermal Pain Stimuli: A Randomized Controlled Trial (Crossover Design). Front Hum Neurosci. 2020 Jan 23;13:467. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00467. eCollection 2019.

  PMID: 32038200 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Acute Pain; Pain

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Neurologic Manifestations; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Study Officials

• HUNTER HOFFMAN, PhD

  University of Washington

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Research Scientist, Human Photonics Lab, Dept of Mechanical Engineering

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 3, 2025
• First Posted: September 25, 2025
• Study Start: February 18, 2025
• Primary Completion: May 29, 2025
• Study Completion: May 29, 2025
• Last Updated: January 7, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-01

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Time Frame: beginning when the paper is published until Jan 1, 2030
• Access Criteria: Access will be granted upon reasonable request. The requester will be emailed de-identified aggregated summary statistics provided by hunthoff9@gmail.com upon reasonable request

Locations

US (1)