Wild Things

December, 1995

Virtual VertigoTalk about a lofty purpose: The Phobia Project, a research study being conducted by the Georgia Institute of Technology, hopes to use virtual-reality environments to cure acrophobes of their fear of heights. Unlike traditional therapy, which forces patients to face actual elevation situations, the Georgia Tech project places them in computer-generated ones. Wearing a VR head-mounted display, a patient may begin by looking out the window of a computer-rendered high-rise, for exampl...