Facing Your Public Speaking Fears in Virtual Reality

Picture yourself at a podium in front of a huge audience. The people in the audience look bored, even sleepy. As you stand before them, every yawn, cough, and shuffle of their feet echo in the vast auditorium. You struggle to make eye contact with one person or another, but their responses seem far off, their expressions disconnected from everything you are doing and saying.

This may sound like a very real situation—or a very realistic nightmare. In fact, it’s a virtual reality simulation designed to help individuals suffering from public speaking anxiety overcome their fear. Companies specializing in virtual reality therapy (VRT) use three-dimensional imaging software, video footage, and sometimes mechanized props that simulate movement to create artificial representations of stress-inducing environments. Clients wear helmets, and motion sensors allow them to interact with the virtual reality environment. “It’s a therapist’s dream,” notes one psychologist who has used the simulations to treat certain social anxieties. “To help people deal with their problems, you must get them exposed to what they fear most” (Lubell, 2004).

The effectiveness of VRT on public speaking anxiety seems promising. A 2012 study showed that VRT participation was equally as effective as stand­ard cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) but that participants were more likely to continue with VRT treatment than with CBT. And at the one-year follow-up session, VRT participants had maintained their improvement (Safir, Wallach, & Bar-Zvi, 2012). Nonetheless, there have been no large-scale, scientific studies of the available VRT programs (Lubell, 2004). Even so, it does offer individuals a chance to test their skills in front of an audience in a very private and constructive way.