Talk & Play: a VR Application to Improve Volume and Silences Use in Verbal Communication

Abstract

Public speaking is present everywhere in our lives; therefore, it is important to know how to do it correctly. Most people have difficulties speaking in public due to their glossophobia (fear of speaking in public). Practicing is one of the best ways for treating this fear and improving the oratory skills. There are three basic aspects in this discipline which are not always taken into consideration when trying to get better in public speaking: silences, speed and volume. This paper presents Talk&Play, an application for teaching how to use these aspects correctly in a speech and the importance of them. For validating this application, an experiment for evaluating it is presented as well. Three main conclusions were reached: 1) Talk&Play increases user’s self-security during public speaking, 2) it also raises awareness of the importance of a correct use of silences, volume and speed in the experiment participants, 3) User learns how to use volume and silences, but the application still needs to improve.