Virtual Mail

What will be the next stage in the evolution of asynchronous electronic communication after e-mail? It may be virtual mail (virtmail), electronic messages that can include interactive voice and image modalities in addition to written text. The predominant form of sound-based communication from people to computing systems is voice interpretation. Voice recognition applied science has made considerable progress independently of virtual reality. The application of advance speech recognition systems to Virtual Reality (VR) greatly enhances the breadth and believability of the interaction between a person and computer. For additional discussion, see virtual commerce .

There are possibilities for both good and bad use of Virtual Reality to the arena of human relationships. There are many venues of virtual social relationships, but one form that is growing by leaps and bounds is virtual dating. The positives of virtual dating include: transcending geographic boundaries to connect with people in different states or around the world (particularly useful to find others who have similar advanced or unusual interests); focusing on words and thoughts (which may be drowned out in the noise of loud, visually-oriented bar settings); convenience, time management, and date screening methods that are not possible in the tangible world, but there are potential negatives as well. Identity deception with bad intent is a potentially serious disadvantage of online relationships. Then too, it is not uncommon to have a disappointing reality shock when you meet someone in person after having only known them online. See tracking human motion in virtual reality systems for more about VR.

Sound is a major part of Virtual Reality (VR). As humans have two eyes for vision, humans have two ears for hearing. As with vision, one's brain combines two close, but distinct, sensory signalss to make 3D conclusions about the source of the signal. It decides 3D location and movement of the source by evaluating: the lag between when different ears hear the sound; level and shifts in pitch and volume; alteration of sound wave features due to obstacles; and sound echoes reflected off surrounding surfaces. Link to audio systems in virtual reality provides more regarding this.

Virtual Reality is being commonly used for aircraft direction. The most prominent applications are VR systems for pilots that superimpose images of maps, navigational graphics, or targeting information shown on the horizon, other aircraft or the ground from a head-mounted VR display. Although air traffic controllers deal constantly with 3D situations, VR applications to air traffic control systems are not widespread. Also in the aerospace field, but not direction per se, virtual reality is commonly used for aircraft training. Also re: VR, virtual reality and navigation .