An interventional study of Indirect Method and Direct Method in Voice, Speech and Virtual Reality Simulation, sponsored by University of Liege. Recruiting at 1 site in Belgium. Open to participants aged 20 Years to 30 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-02-06.
Sponsored by University of Liege · Not applicable, Interventional, and Prevention
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).
205 studies on the registry are indexed under Speech; 80 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 80 is above the median of 52 across 141 interventional studies indexed under Speech.
Browse Speech studies →University of Liege is the lead sponsor of 251 studies on the registry; 50 are open to participants now.
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Exclusion Criteria:
* Indirect method: one information session on general advice about PS * Direct method: three sessions of PS training including VR simulations over a course of 3 weeks.
Behavioral: Indirect Method · Behavioral: Direct Method
* Indirect method: one information session on general advice about PS * Delayed direct method: after a waiting period of three weeks, three sessions of PS training including simulations over a course of 3 weeks.
Behavioral: Indirect Method · Behavioral: Direct Method
• General information and advice on PS
• Learning effective PS oral skills using speech therapy exercises (e.g., modeling, audiovisual feedback) and VR simulations
Filled pauses
Measurements of participants' filled pauses (percentage of the total number of syllables produced) when PS in VR
Time frame: Week 1(baseline), 4 and 7
Speech rate
Measurements of participants' speech rate (in syllables per second) when PS in VR
Time frame: Week 1(baseline), 4 and 7
Voice intonation
Acoustic measurements of participants' voice variation (in semitones) when PS in VR
Time frame: Week 1(baseline), 4 and 7
PS self-efficacy
Questionnaire on self-efficacy in PS
Time frame: Week 1(baseline), 4 and 7
Self-reported PS anxiety
Self-assessment of perceived anxiety using the Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS)
Time frame: Week 1(baseline), 4 and 7
Physiological PS anxiety
Measurements of participants' heart rate (in bpm) when PS in VR
Time frame: Week 1(baseline), 4 and 7
Self-reported confidence as a speaker
Self-assessment of confidence as a speaker using the Personal Report of Confidence as a Speaker (PRCS) short-form questionnaire
Time frame: Week 1(baseline), 4 and 7
Self-perceived vocal effort
Self-assessment of perceived vocal effort using the Adapted BORG Category Ratio (CR-10) physical exertion scale
Time frame: Week 1(baseline), 4 and 7
Plan to share: No
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