XR (extended reality) is showing up in AV projects in two primary ways: as a design validation tool that lets stakeholders walk through a space virtually before construction begins, and as a collaboration environment for distributed teams working on complex technical projects. The design review use case is more mature and has the clearest ROI story. The collaboration use case is in earlier adoption but gaining real traction among organizations with distributed technical teams.
Blog 8 of 8 in the series: What AV Topics Should I Be Paying Attention to in 2026?
The core problem is the gap between what 2D drawings communicate and what most stakeholders actually understand from them. AV signal flow drawings, equipment schedules, and floor plans are accurate and necessary documents, but they require real technical literacy to interpret. Most end users, facility managers, department heads, and executives cannot look at a plan view drawing and understand where the camera will be pointed, what the display will look like from the back of the room, or whether speaker placement will provide even coverage.
People who struggle to read a floor plan have no trouble understanding a room they are standing in. XR closes that gap completely. When a stakeholder steps into a virtual version of their future conference room, they immediately understand the scale, the sightlines, the feel of the space. They can see that the display is too high before anyone has touched drywall. They can feel that the room is smaller than they expected, or larger. That instinctive understanding is something no drawing can deliver.
This matters especially when you are selling an experience. An AV investment is not just hardware and cable, it is how a room will feel and function every day. Giving stakeholders a chance to preview that experience before committing to it builds confidence, reduces surprises, and makes approvals faster.
That gap creates two types of costly problems. Stakeholders approve designs they did not truly understand and then request changes during or after construction, when modifications are most expensive. And issues that would be immediately obvious during a physical walkthrough get missed entirely, including things like a sightline blocked by a column, a display positioned too high for comfortable viewing, or speakers aimed directly at a glass wall.
XR addresses both by giving non-technical stakeholders a way to actually experience the designed space before a single cable is pulled.
The design review workflow has evolved significantly. Platforms like ModusVR have moved well beyond the early model of requiring dedicated VR goggles for every participant. Today the experience is accessible across devices without specialized hardware, meaning a stakeholder in a different city can join a review session from a laptop or tablet, navigate the space, and flag issues in real time alongside the design team.
The AV designer imports the room model and places equipment at specified mounting locations and heights. Displays, cameras, speakers, microphones, and control panels appear at true scale. Every participant sees the same space and can move through it independently, manipulate elements, and annotate directly in the model.
Issues get identified in real time: a display is too high, a camera angle is wrong, a speaker is too close to a reflective surface. Changes are made in the design model during the session or immediately after, and a follow-up review confirms the revised design before construction begins. A review session typically runs 60 to 90 minutes.
Because modern XR review platforms are device-agnostic and require no specialized hardware, participation is genuinely frictionless. A facilities director in Boston, an IT lead in Austin, and a department head in London can all be in the same virtual room at the same time, pointing at the same display, asking the same questions. Getting full stakeholder alignment without a single travel day is not a minor convenience. On complex projects it is a meaningful schedule and cost advantage.
The most commonly caught issues in XR design reviews:
Persistent virtual collaboration spaces are gaining ground among organizations with distributed technical teams. ModusVR supports ongoing collaborative access to project models across the full design and build lifecycle. Alongside it, platforms like Microsoft Mesh (integrated with Teams), Spatial.io, and Meta Horizon Workrooms provide virtual meeting environments where participants interact with shared 3D content, whiteboards, and screens.
The math is not complicated. A change order to relocate a display mounting point after drywall is complete typically runs $1,500 to $5,000. A change order requiring electrical relocation or conduit rerouting typically runs $3,000 to $15,000. An XR design review service costs $2,000 to $8,000 and typically catches 3 to 6 issues per project.
For large, complex projects such as executive briefing centers, command centers, and large conference facilities, the ROI is not in question. For smaller single-room projects, the value depends on design complexity and how many stakeholders need to review and approve before construction begins. When stakeholder alignment has historically been a source of delays or change orders, XR pays for itself on the first project.
For the full 2026 AV trends overview, read What AV Topics Should I Be Paying Attention to in 2026?.
For context on how early design decisions affect long-term system performance, visit Design & Consultation.