Beat the Fear of Public Speaking: Mobile 360° Video Virtual Reality Exposure Training in Home Environment Reduces Public Speaking Anxiety

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 624-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Snežana Stupar-Rutenfrans ◽  
Loes E. H. Ketelaars ◽  
Marnix S. van Gisbergen
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Home Environment ◽  
Public Speaking ◽  
Public Speaking Anxiety ◽  
Speaking Anxiety ◽  
Fear Of Public Speaking ◽  
Virtual Reality Exposure

scholarly journals Cloud Based Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy Service for Public Speaking Anxiety

Information ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justas Šalkevičius ◽  
Audronė Miškinytė ◽  
Lukas Navickas
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Public Speaking ◽  
Exposure Therapy ◽  
Behavioral Therapy ◽  
Public Speaking Anxiety ◽  
Speaking Anxiety ◽  
Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy ◽  
Skin Response ◽  
Virtual Reality Exposure ◽  
Therapy Service

Public speaking anxiety is commonly treated using cognitive behavioral therapy. During the therapy session, the patient is either asked to vividly imagine and describe the feared stimulus or is confronted with it in the real world. Sometimes, however, it can be hard to imagine the object of fear or to create a controllable environment that contains this stimulus. Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) can help solve these problems by placing the patient in a simulated 3D environment. While standalone VRET applications have been investigated for more than 25 years, we are analyzing the viability of a cloud-based VRET system. In this paper, we discuss the architectural and technical choices made in order to create a mobile and lightweight solution that can be easily adapted by any psychology clinic. Moreover, we are analyzing data gathered from 30 participants who have undergone a VRET session for public speaking anxiety. Finally, the collected psychophysiological signals including galvanic skin response (GSR) and skin temperature are processed and investigated in order to evaluate our cloud-based VRET system.

scholarly journals The Effectiveness of Self-Guided Virtual-Reality Exposure Therapy for Public-Speaking Anxiety

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Preethi Premkumar ◽  
Nadja Heym ◽  
David Joseph Brown ◽  
Steven Battersby ◽  
Alexander Sumich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Public Speaking ◽  
Virtual Classroom ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Fear Of Negative Evaluation ◽  
Public Speaking Anxiety ◽  
Social Threat ◽  
Speaking Anxiety ◽  
Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy ◽  
Virtual Reality Exposure

Objectives: Self-guided virtual-reality exposure therapy (VRET) is a psychological intervention that enables a person to increase their own exposure to perceived threat. Public-speaking anxiety (PSA) is an anxiety-provoking social situation that is characterized by fear of negative evaluation from an audience. This pilot study aimed to determine whether self-guided VRET (1) increases exposure to PSA-specific virtual social threats, and (2) reduces anxiety, arousal, heartrate and PSA over repeated exposure.Methods: Thirty-two University students (27 completers) with high self-reported public-speaking anxiety attended 2 weekly self-guided VRET sessions. Each session involved the participant delivering a 20-min speech in a virtual classroom. Participants were able to increase their exposure to virtual social threat through the audience size, audience reaction, number of speech prompts, and their own salience in the virtual classroom at 4-min intervals. Participants' heartrates and self-reported anxiety and arousal were monitored during these intervals. Participants completed psychometric assessments after each session and 1 month later.Results: Participants increased their exposure to virtual social threat during each VRET session, which coincided with a reduction in heartrate and self-reported anxiety and arousal. Improvement in PSA occurred post-treatment and 1 month later. The in-session improvement in anxiety correlated with reductions in fear of negative evaluation post-treatment and 1 month later.Conclusions: Increased self-exposure to virtual social threat from self-guided VRET relieves anxiety and shows immediate reductions in subjective and physiological arousal during application, but also yields sustained improvement in PSA.

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