Virtual Reality Training for Public Speaking—A QUEST-VR Framework Validation

Abstract

Good public speaking skills are essential in many professions as well as everyday life, but speech anxiety is a common problem. While it is established that public speaking training in virtual reality (VR) is effective, comprehensive studies on the underlying factors that contribute to this success are rare. The "quality evaluation of user-system interaction in virtual reality" framework for evaluation of VR applications is presented that includes system features, user factors, and moderating variables. Based on this framework, variables that are postulated to influence the quality of a public speaking training application were selected for a first validation study. In a cross-sectional, repeated measures laboratory study [N = 36 undergraduate students; 36% men, 64% women, mean age = 26.42 years (SD = 3.42)], the effects of task difficulty (independent variable), ability to concentrate, fear of public speaking, and social presence (covariates) on public speaking performance (dependent variable) in a virtual training scenario were analyzed, using stereoscopic visualization on a screen. The results indicate that the covariates moderate the effect of task difficulty on speech performance, turning it into a non-significant effect. Further interrelations are explored. The presenter's reaction to the virtual agents in the audience shows a tendency of overlap of explained variance with task difficulty. This underlines the need for more studies dedicated to the interaction of contributing factors for determining the quality of VR public speaking applications.

A Systematic Review of Social Presence: Definition, Antecedents, and Implications

“…Directly germane to this hypothesis, studies (Joinson, 2004 ; Hertel et al, 2008 ; Hammick and Lee, 2014 ) consistently show that less socially oriented individuals prefer interacting through a medium that is considered to be “leaner” (e.g., text-based CMC), while more socially oriented individuals prefer to interact via a “richer” modality (e.g., FtF). Similarly, Poeschl ( 2017 ) found that perceiving the virtual audience to be more socially present tended to lead to a worse speech-giving performance.…”

Virtual Reality Treatment for Public Speaking Anxiety in Students. Advancements and Results in Personalized Medicine

“…Subsequently, in the eligibility phase, each title and summary of articles were analyzed according to the inclusion (IC4, IC5) and exclusion (EX4, EX5) criteria. Finally, in the included phase, the final analysis sample was determined for the systematic review (n = 13) [48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60]. The search was conducted on 5 January, 2020.…”

“…Journal h-Index [49,58,60] Annual Review of Cybertherapy and Telemedicine 8 [50,59] Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 50 [57] Frontiers in ICT 15 [48] IET Software 13 [55] International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning 19 [53] International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 4 [56] Research on Social Work Practice 27 [54] Technology and Health Care 18 [51] Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 26 [52] Journal of Anxiety Disorders 47…”

Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Playback in Public Speaking Training

“…Furthermore, the task difficulty also affects the presenter's reaction to the virtual audience. Poeschl Sandra [16] concluded that there were less cognitive resources left to notice in difficult tasks. However, the ability to concentrate was independent of the task difficulty.…”