Interactive simulation training: computer simulated standardized patients for medical diagnosis.

SIMmersion LLC is a software development company that creates human interactive training simulations. SIMmersion produces PC-based simulations of people with whom trainees are able to hold conversations. Trainees communicate with simulated characters in face-to-face conversations, using voice recognition technology. Topics that would match well with SIMmersion's simulation capabilities include diagnosis of depression, alcoholism, or drug use, grievance counseling, marriage counseling, suicide intervention, and first responder training for biological terrorism. SIMmersion's technology could be integrated with modeling technology to create a speech-interactive, mannequin-based patient simulation system for healthcare training and assessment. Systems currently being developed involve early detection of smallpox as a result of a biological attack.