Brundage Shelley B, Hancock Adrienne B
Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2015 May;24(2):139-49. doi: 10.1044/2014_AJSLP-14-0087.
Virtual reality environments (VREs) are computer-generated, 3-dimensional worlds that allow users to experience situations similar to those encountered in the real world. The purpose of this study was to investigate VREs for potential use in assessing and treating persons who stutter (PWS) by determining the extent to which PWS's affective, behavioral, and cognitive measures in a VRE correlate with those same measures in a similar live environment.
Ten PWS delivered speeches-first to a live audience and, on another day, to 2 virtual audiences (neutral and challenging audiences). Participants completed standard tests of communication apprehension and confidence prior to each condition, and frequency of stuttering was measured during each speech.
Correlational analyses revealed significant, positive correlations between virtual and live conditions for affective and cognitive measures as well as for frequency of stuttering.
These findings suggest that virtual public speaking environments engender affective, behavioral, and cognitive reactions in PWS that correspond to those experienced in the real world. Therefore, the authentic, safe, and controlled environments provided by VREs may be useful for stuttering assessment and treatment.
虚拟现实环境（VREs）是计算机生成的三维世界，可让用户体验与现实世界中遇到的情况类似的情境。本研究的目的是通过确定口吃者（PWS）在虚拟现实环境中的情感、行为和认知测量与在类似现场环境中的相同测量之间的相关程度，来研究虚拟现实环境在评估和治疗口吃者方面的潜在用途。
10名口吃者先后向现场观众发表演讲，以及在另一天向2个虚拟观众（中性和具有挑战性的观众）发表演讲。在每种情况下，参与者在演讲前完成沟通焦虑和自信心的标准测试，并在每次演讲期间测量口吃频率。
相关分析显示，在情感和认知测量以及口吃频率方面，虚拟环境和现场环境之间存在显著的正相关。
这些发现表明，虚拟公开演讲环境在口吃者中引发的情感、行为和认知反应与现实世界中经历的反应相对应。因此，虚拟现实环境提供的真实、安全和可控环境可能对口吃评估和治疗有用。
