Virtual Reality as a Tool for Training Public Speaking Skills in Higher Education Students

Overview

According to the scientific literature, public speaking (PS) is an important skill for students to master. However, a large proportion of students do not feel comfortable speaking in public. PS anxiety impacts oral communication (i.e., voice and fluency). These changes can affect speaker's academic and professional success, as well as his credibility. Performing a high-quality PPP with confidence is therefore rarely an innate skill, but fortunately it can be trained and improved. Therefore, training PS skills in representative settings is crucial but often challenging for PS professionals (e.g., speech therapists, vocologists, coaches). This project examines how oral communication skills training including simulations in virtual reality (VR) supports the acquisition of effective oral PS skills. Using acoustic analyses, outcomes from participants in the intervention group (N = 40) will be compared with those of a wait-list control group (N = 40) to determine whether significant differences emerge in filled pauses, speech rate, and vocal intonation during PS. Changes in PS self-efficacy will also be assessed. Regarding secondary outcomes, the study will evaluate changes in self-reported and physiological PS anxiety, as well as self-reported confidence as a speaker. Finally, self-perceived vocal effort during PS will be examined.

The present study is a randomized wait-list control trial, i.e. participants are randomly assigned to either the group that receives the intervention directly or the group that receives the intervention after a waiting period. First, both groups will receive a 1-hour session of information on general advice about PS (indirect method). Then the participants in the experimental group will receive three 1-hour sessions of voice and fluency training with VR practice moments for a period of 3 weeks (direct method). The control wait-list group will first wait for 3 weeks and then get the direct method training. The investigators will collect data from all participants in the first week (before the start of intervention for the experimental group), fourth week (right after the intervention for the experimental group and right before the first intervention session for the control group) and seventh week (three weeks after the intervention for the experimental group and right after the intervention for the control group).