Cambridge Study Reveals Virtual Reality as a Game-Changer for Speech Anxiety - Video

The fear of public speaking is widely cited as being the most common fear. Public speaking anxiety is a prevalent issue with significant negative impacts. While virtual reality exposure therapy is an effective treatment, it currently has significant limitations. Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that the prevalence of social anxiety and a fear of public speaking are both on the rise. This is concerning when one considers the range of known subsequent negative impacts on

mental health, physical health, academic attainment, and career progression.

To address this, Dr Chris Macdonald created an online platform where users transform into skilled and confident public speakers. On the platform, tailored course material develops key skills and life-like virtual reality training environments build confidence. Dr Macdonald explains, “In physical reality, a user might be practising a presentation alone in their bedroom but on the new virtual reality platform, they can experience the sensation of presenting to a wide range of increasingly challenging photorealistic audiences.”

By developing a method that converts smartphones into VR headsets, Dr Macdonald has made sure that the platform is accessible to all. A device mount could be thought of as a low-cost ‘conversion kit’ that transforms a user’s smartphone into a functional VR headset. Importantly, the platform has been built in such a way that whether a participant is using the latest standalone VR headset or an old smartphone inserted into a device mount, they will get the same content and the same experience.

As recently revealed in the academic journal, Frontiers, the platform has been clinically proven to significantly increase levels of confidence for most users after a single 30-minute session.

The research revealed that a week of self-guided use was beneficial to 100% of participants; the platform helped all users in one or more of the following ways: to feel more prepared, more adaptable, more resilient, more confident, to be better able to manage nerves, and to feel less anxious. To increase efficacy, the concept of overexposure therapy was developed: training in extreme scenarios that one is unlikely to encounter in real life.

A single-session experiment with 29 adolescents evaluated the platform’s impact on public speaking anxiety, confidence, and enjoyment. Results showed significant improvements in all three measures. These findings suggest that this novel approach holds promise. The paper concludes by exploring limitations and areas for future research.

Ref: Macdonald C. Improving virtual reality exposure therapy with open access and overexposure: a single 30-minute session of overexposure therapy reduces public speaking anxiety. Front. Virtual Real. , 16 December 2024; Sec. Virtual Reality and Human Behaviour: Volume 5 – 2024. https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2024.1506938