An Experiment to Assess the Usefulness of a Virtual Environment as a Method of Public Speaking Anxiety Exposure

This abstract describes an experiment conducted to assess the effectiveness of a virtual environment to act as a method of exposure in the treatment of public speaking anxiety among high school students. In one of the experimental conditions, the participants had to make a presentation to a virtual audience using a Samsung Gear VR headset, which displayed a prerecorded 360-degree video of a classroom full of students. In another experimental condition, the participants had to make a presentation, without the VR headset and an audience. In both conditions, participant’s heartbeat rate (response variable) was measured. The results show that the heartbeat during the experimental condition with a VR headset was significantly higher with respect to the heartbeat rate measured to the condition without the headset. This study should be followed up with a treatment study, where a virtual reality device would track a user’s vitals during prolonged use and report the user’s progress.