Active vs. Passive VR During Office-based ENT Procedures

August 13, 2026 updated by: Dennis Tang, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Active vs. Passive Virtual Reality for Reducing Pain and Anxiety During Office-based ENT Procedures

The purpose of this research is to evaluate whether active virtual reality reduces pain and anxiety more effectively than passive virtual reality during office-based ENT procedures. The main procedures include exposure to virtual reality (passive calming scenery or interactive puzzle game) via Paperplane Therapeutics software with VR headset or glasses during common in-office ENT procedures, participant self-report surveys (GAD-7, PHQ-9, PEG, VAS, SUDS, Likert, experience questions), and physician post-procedure survey. The study will enroll individuals 18 years or older who are scheduled to undergo common office-based ENT procedures (turbinate reduction, nasal debridement, balloon sinuplasty, radiofrequency ablation, nasal polypectomy, eustachian tube dilation, vocal fold injection, or subglottic steroid injection) at Cedars-Sinai.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

132

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90048
        • Cedars Sinai Medical Offices East Tower
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria Active and Passive VR:

  • Individuals 18 years old and older are included
  • Individuals undergoing the following common office-based ENT procedures: turbinate reduction, nasal debridement, balloon sinuplasty, radiofrequency ablation (RhinAer/VivAer), nasal polypectomy, eustachian tube dilation, vocal fold injection, or subglottic steroid injection
  • Able to consent
  • English speaking

Exclusion Criteria Active VR:

  • History of neurologic or seizure disorder, developmental delay, uncorrected visual impairment, motion sickness, vertigo, or inability to use a handheld controller
  • Any records flagged "break the glass" or "research opt out."

Exclusion Criteria Passive VR:

  • History of neurologic or seizure disorder, developmental delay, uncorrected visual impairment, motion sickness, or vertigo
  • Any records flagged "break the glass" or "research opt out."

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Passive virtual reality
passively watching calming scenery
Device: Passive virtual reality headset or goggles
Exposure to calming scenery through passive virtual reality using Paperplane Therapeutics software with VR headset or glasses during common in-office ENT procedures
Experimental: Active virtual reality
interactive game
Device: Active virtual reality headset or goggles
Exposure to interactive game through virtual reality using Paperplane Therapeutics software with a VR headset or glasses during common in-office ENT procedures.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Post-Procedure Pain Assessed Using the Visual Analog Scale
Time Frame: Immediately after the office-based ENT procedure
Post-procedure pain will be assessed using the Visual Analog Scale, ranging from 0 to 100 mm, where 0 mm indicates "no pain" and 100 mm indicates "worst imaginable pain." Higher scores indicate greater pain.
Immediately after the office-based ENT procedure
Post-Procedure Anxiety Assessed Using the Subjective Units of Distress Scale
Time Frame: Immediately after the office-based ENT procedure
Post-procedure anxiety will be assessed using the Subjective Units of Distress Scale, ranging from 0 to 100, where 0 indicates "totally relaxed" and 100 indicates "highest distress/fear/anxiety/discomfort that you have ever felt." Higher scores indicate greater distress.
Immediately after the office-based ENT procedure

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Clinician Experience with Virtual Reality Use
Time Frame: Immediately after the office-based ENT procedure
Clinician experience with virtual reality use will be assessed using seven physician-reported items rated on a 5-point Likert agreement scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Two composite scores will be derived: Feasibility (items 1-4) and Observed Patient Comfort (items 5-7). Selected items will be reverse-coded so that higher composite scores indicate more favorable clinician ratings of virtual reality feasibility and observed patient comfort.
Immediately after the office-based ENT procedure

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Patient Satisfaction with Virtual Reality Use
Time Frame: Immediately after the office-based ENT procedure
Patient satisfaction with virtual reality use will be assessed using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (extremely dissatisfied) to 7 (extremely satisfied). Higher scores indicate greater satisfaction. Five additional brief multiple-choice questions will assess participants' experience with virtual reality.
Immediately after the office-based ENT procedure

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

September 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 14, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 14, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

May 20, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 17, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 13, 2026

Last Verified

August 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STUDY00004672

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

Yes

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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