They sat in a circle, headsets on, and suddenly the dining room at The Terraces in Los Gatos felt very small. One minute the residents were passing chips and gossiping about Mexican Train; the next they were hovering over a hot-air balloon, then paddling their arms beside an imagined pod of dolphins. 'We got to go underwater and didn’t even have to hold our breath,' said 81-year-old Ginny Baird, laughing after a 3D Rendever session.
That mix of wonder and companionship is exactly what Rendever, a Somerville, Massachusetts startup, has been trying to scale. Its library of curated VR experiences — from childhood neighborhoods to Glacier hikes — is now being used in roughly 800 retirement communities across the U.S. and Canada. The company recently won a nearly $4.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study whether similar programming can reduce social isolation for seniors living at home and for their caregivers.
Virtual trips, real conversations
The appeal is obvious: VR does what a bus trip, a slide show or a phone call rarely do all at once. It creates a shared sensory moment that can spark memory, emotion and conversation. Residents hearing a certain street name or watching a familiar shoreline can be pulled into long-dormant stories. For some people with limited mobility — or the kind of cognitive decline that makes planning a day out overwhelming — a 20- to 30-minute virtual visit can be the closest thing to a spontaneous outing.
Staff at communities notice the social ripple effects. A life-enrichment director at The Terraces said one VR session quickly became a lunchroom topic, drawing residents who’d otherwise stay home. In another facility, a nonverbal resident with dementia smiled and nodded during a virtual hike through Glacier National Park — a short, meaningful interaction that his wife later said rekindled memories of trips they had taken together.
Evidence, risks and the road ahead
Researchers are cautiously optimistic. Limited-view VR sessions have been linked in some studies to improvements in cognition, mood and social engagement when used as a complement to other activities. Neuropsychologists warn against overuse — too much screen time can be isolating if it replaces real-world contact — but stress that, used with intention, VR can be a doorway to connection.
Pallabi Bhowmick, a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, points out that many older adults are eager to try technology that feels meaningful rather than merely novel. 'The stereotype that seniors won’t try new tech needs to change,' she says. Intergenerational moments help too: grandchildren may light up when they learn a grandparent is 'cool' enough to use VR, which can strengthen family bonds.
The market is growing. Rendever faces competition from companies like Dallas-based Mynd Immersive, and mainstream hardware is evolving fast. Developers are flooding platforms with immersive content — some aimed at entertainment, some at therapy. If you follow VR beyond senior care, you'll see related developments in consumer and gaming spaces, from new titles arriving on PS VR2 to manufacturers pushing more capable headsets; those industry moves have implications for content availability and price pressure over time. For context on how game-focused content is expanding, see how publishers are filling the PS VR2 lineup flat2vr-psvr2-november-lineup, and how device makers are preparing wider XR rollouts samsung-galaxy-xr-global-rollout.
Practicality matters in senior settings. Headsets that are wireless, lightweight and intuitive lower the barrier to entry. For communities or families considering a simple, all-in-one option, mainstream devices such as the Meta Quest line are widely available and often used in care settings; you can check current models like the Meta Quest 3 available on Amazon. But hardware is only half the puzzle — the content needs to be curated for older audiences, with easy controls and staff trained to run group sessions.
There are also ethical and clinical questions to address. How do caretakers ensure an experience won’t trigger anxiety or disorientation? What safeguards are needed for residents with advanced dementia? Researchers say studies like the NIH-funded Rendever project will help establish best practices, but for now the rule of thumb is moderation and supervision: short sessions, debrief time afterward, and choices tailored to the individual.
Technology that once felt isolating — a headset that removes you from the room — is being reframed as a social tool. When the technology is used as a bridge rather than a replacement, it can do more than entertain: it can prompt conversation, revive memories and sometimes turn a quiet afternoon into a shared adventure. In the afterglow of a session, residents often stay talking longer. That, perhaps, is the simplest and most lasting effect of all.