In order to assess perception with and performance of modern and future hearing devices with advanced adaptive signal processing capabilities, novel evaluation methods are required that go beyond already established methods. These novel methods simulate to a certain extent the complexity and variability of acoustic conditions and acoustic communication styles in real life. This contribution discusses the current state and the perspectives of virtual reality technology use in the lab for designing complex audiovisual communication environments for hearing assessment and hearing device design and evaluation. In an effort to increase the ecological validity of lab experiments, i.e., to increase the degree to which lab data reflect real-life hearing-related function, and to support the development of improved hearing-related procedures and interventions, this virtual reality lab marks a transition from conventional (audio-only) lab experiments to the field. An important factor in this endeavor is interactivity between the listener and the virtual reality , i.e., the realization of subject-in-the-loop procedures. This requires low-delay real-time generation and rendering of dynamic audio-visual content.Work funded by SFB 1330 Hearing Acoustics - project-ID 352015383.