Stress Situations and Speech Fluency: A Pilot Study of Oral Presentations in Immersive Virtual Reality Environments

This pilot study investigates the relationship between stress situations and speech fluency in virtual reality environments. It aims to analyze how different stress scenarios, classified into low-, medium-, and high-stress environments, can affect speech rate, increase syllable/word repetitions, and lead to hesitations in university students. Previous research has established connections between stress situations and speech fluency, highlighting that stress can negatively influence behavior, cognitive processes, and communicative performance across various contexts, including oral presentations. An experiment was conducted with 30 participants randomly divided into three groups. Each group was exposed to different virtual stress environments (low/medium/high) during simulated oral presentations. A virtual reality platform was created to establish controlled environments and monitor the participants' fluency in real time. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test revealed that participants in the low-stress virtual environment performed better, achieving higher word and syllable production. In contrast, the high-stress virtual environment demonstrated an increase in disfluencies and hesitations. Results emphasize the impact of stress situations on oral communication, advocating for the use of virtual reality technology as a means of preparing individuals for challenging speaking scenarios. This approach has the potential to enhance speech fluency as a result of targeted practice in stress-inducing environments; that is to say, alleviating anxiety and improving overall communicative efficacy.