A review of virtual reality technologies in the field of communication disability: implications for practice and research

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of reviewed studies using virtual reality in health disciplines and speech-language pathology.

First author	Ref.	Field	Article type	Method	Target skills	Participant population	Intervention	VR experience
Applications of VR in health interventions
Laver	3	Physio	Review	Cochrane systematic review – 72 studies (50 included in meta-analysis)	Upper limb function	People with limb weakness following stroke	Physical interventions	HMD, CAVE and desktop
Manivannan	9	Medicine/Neuro-science	Review	Systematic review – 13 studies	Memory, attention, executive function, learning and problem solving	People with a traumatic brain injury (TBI)	Cognitive tasks in interactive environments	HMD, CAVE and desktop
Snider	17	Physio	Review	Systematic review – 11 studies	Motor function, activity and participation, personal factors	Children with cerebral palsy	Virtual games requiring physical movement	Desktop-style video games
Manera	22	Psychology	Original research	AB descriptive design	Sustained attention	29 people with dementia 38 people with mild cognitive impairment	VR attention-distractor task. Compared to paper-based task	Desktop non-immersive computer display
Krijn	23	Psychology	Review	Narrative review	Anxiety	People with anxiety	Exposure therapy	HMD and CAVE
Parsons	24	Psychology	Review	Systematic review – 52 studies	Anxiety	People with phobias	Exposure therapy	Immersive (exact nature unknown)
Walkom	25	Psychology	Original research	Intervention – pre/post design	Social anxiety	4 adults who stutter	Exposure therapy	HMD
Applications of VR for speech-language pathology
Kandalaft	8	Psychiatry	Original research	Intervention – pre/post design	Emotional recognition, social perception (auditory and visual), theory of mind, conversational skills	8 young adults with autism	Social cognition training and social skills intervention	Desktop (Second Life)
Stendal	11	SLP	Original research	Qualitative – interview and case study	Experience of virtual worlds	1 adult with autism	Social use of virtual world – dedicated island for people with autism	Desktop (Second Life)
Halabi	14	Education	Original research	Intervention – pre/post design	Speech and gesture recognition and response, turn-taking	3 children with autism 7 typically developing children	Role play scenario and training for social greeting	HMD, CAVE and desktop
Marshall	27	SLP	Original research	Intervention – quasi-experimental design	Verbal fluency, word finding, narrative production, communication confidence, feelings of social isolation	20 people with aphasia	Supported language stimulation	Desktop (EVA Park)
Carragher	28	SLP	Original research	Intervention – pre/post design Case studies	Storytelling (content and understanding)	3 people with aphasia	Narrative generation to video stimuli	Desktop (EVA Park)
Marshall	29	SLP	Original research	Intervention – pre/post design, case studies	Word retrieval	2 people with aphasia	Cued naming, modified Semantic Feature Analysis, modified Verb Network Strengthening Training	Desktop (EVA Park)
Galliers	30	SLP	Original research	Qualitative – interviews	User experience	20 people with aphasia	Supported language stimulation	Desktop (EVA Park)
Amaya	31	SLP	Original research	Qualitative – interviews	Views of Intervention	20 people with aphasia	Supported language stimulation	Desktop (EVA Park)
Communication training in immersive VR
Maicher	38	OB/GYN	Original research	Descriptive design	Case history interviewing	Medical students	Virtual patient simulation, case history interview	Desktop
Foronda	39	Nursing	Original research	Within-group times series design	Inter-professional communication skills	8 nursing students	Virtual clinical simulation, inter-professional communication	Desktop

SLP: speech-language pathology; VR: virtual reality; HMD: head-mounted display; CAVE: CAVE Automated Virtual Environment; OB/GYN: obstetrics/gynaecology.