The project "Making voice and Presence a Virtual Realistic Experience" is funded by “HessenHub - Network digital university teaching Hessen”. At the Center for Foreign Language and Occupational Competencies (German: ZfbK) at the University of Giessen, a teaching concept for student teacher training was developed that includes both the learning and use of a physiologically sound voice and offers transfer to professional practice. For this purpose, a virtual classroom featuring avatars of noisy school children was developed. The teaching concept includes exercises on breathing, posture, articulation and physiological voice enhancement at the syllable, word, sentence and text levels, up to spontaneous speech. With the help of virtual reality (VR) headsets, these exercises are to be trained and consolidated in a realistic classroom environment under the guidance of a speech scientist. The goal is for future teachers to be able to intuitively use a physiologically healthy voice that can be increased in volume without negative repercussions.
The study conducted is based on a total sample of 20 students. The methodology of the accompanying research adheres to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) approach [6]. A pre-post survey on voice use and voice-influencing habits was employed to investigate improvements resulting from voice training. Additionally, a survey on VR experience and its impact was conducted at the end of the seminar, with 19 participants. Preliminary results indicate trends suggesting improvements in voice quality among most participants. The VR experience also yielded predominantly positive outcomes, and participants perceived added value in the use of VR headsets.
This study is to be considered a pilot study, as it was conducted with only 20 participants. It is necessary for future research studies to increase the sample size to obtain definitive results on the effectiveness of voice training using VR headsets.