Telehealth delivery of an immersive virtual reality therapy tool for communication rehabilitation: A feasibility study.
Tracks
4
Telepractice
Therapy
| Friday, June 13, 2025 |
| 3:10 PM - 3:20 PM |
Overview
Dr Clare Burns
Details
⏫ Research insights
⏲️ 3.10pm - 3.30pm
⌛ 20-minutes
📚 Assumed knowledge of attendees: Foundational (new/casual familiarity with the topic e.g. treated a single case)
⏲️ 3.10pm - 3.30pm
⌛ 20-minutes
📚 Assumed knowledge of attendees: Foundational (new/casual familiarity with the topic e.g. treated a single case)
Presenter
Dr Clare Burns
Telehealth delivery of an immersive virtual reality therapy tool for communication rehabilitation: A feasibility study.
3:10 PM - 3:30 PMPresentation summary
Objective:
Speech pathology traditionally provides clinic-based appointments which can impact therapy access and limits opportunities for patients to practice communication skills in real-world settings. This research team designed and developed a virtual reality (VR) coffee shop, the ‘Communication Café’ where the patient and speech pathologist can interact via a head-mounted display to practice communication rehabilitation. Initial in-person testing has supported system feasibility. As the VR tool also has telehealth capability, remote delivery needs to be explored. This study aimed to test the feasibility of telehealth delivery of the virtual reality tool to support communication rehabilitation.
Methods:
Ten patients and two speech pathologists participated in telehealth sessions using the VR Communication Café. The VR program was hosted on Meta Quest 2 VR headsets with players connected via 5G internet network. Initially, participants received training on how to use the VR system. Following this, 1:1 therapy sessions were conducted whereby the patient and speech pathologist entered VR Communication Café from remote locations. The speech pathologist directed the session with the patient practicing communication skills and strategies tailored to meet their communication goals. Feedback was collected on session and system outcomes and user experience.
Results:
Testing revealed that practical demonstration and written instructions supported user training. Thirty sessions were conducted successfully, and a range of communication therapy tasks were conducted. The additional VR system features (e.g. sound effects, money management) offered greater fidelity/challenges during therapy tasks. Users reported that tele-delivery of the VR Communication Café was highly engaging and would offer enhanced access for patients seeking to improve their communication skills.
Conclusions
This study demonstrated that it is feasible to deliver to communication therapy via telehealth utilising a novel immersive virtual reality tool. These results are being used to inform a larger clinical trial.
Speech pathology traditionally provides clinic-based appointments which can impact therapy access and limits opportunities for patients to practice communication skills in real-world settings. This research team designed and developed a virtual reality (VR) coffee shop, the ‘Communication Café’ where the patient and speech pathologist can interact via a head-mounted display to practice communication rehabilitation. Initial in-person testing has supported system feasibility. As the VR tool also has telehealth capability, remote delivery needs to be explored. This study aimed to test the feasibility of telehealth delivery of the virtual reality tool to support communication rehabilitation.
Methods:
Ten patients and two speech pathologists participated in telehealth sessions using the VR Communication Café. The VR program was hosted on Meta Quest 2 VR headsets with players connected via 5G internet network. Initially, participants received training on how to use the VR system. Following this, 1:1 therapy sessions were conducted whereby the patient and speech pathologist entered VR Communication Café from remote locations. The speech pathologist directed the session with the patient practicing communication skills and strategies tailored to meet their communication goals. Feedback was collected on session and system outcomes and user experience.
Results:
Testing revealed that practical demonstration and written instructions supported user training. Thirty sessions were conducted successfully, and a range of communication therapy tasks were conducted. The additional VR system features (e.g. sound effects, money management) offered greater fidelity/challenges during therapy tasks. Users reported that tele-delivery of the VR Communication Café was highly engaging and would offer enhanced access for patients seeking to improve their communication skills.
Conclusions
This study demonstrated that it is feasible to deliver to communication therapy via telehealth utilising a novel immersive virtual reality tool. These results are being used to inform a larger clinical trial.
Refrences
This work has been based on research conducted by this team on virtual reality and telepractice
Vaezipour, A., Aldridge, D., Koenig, S., Theodoros, D., & Russell, T. (2021). “It’s really exciting to think where it could go”: a mixed-method investigation of clinician acceptance, barriers and enablers of virtual reality technology in communication rehabilitation. Disability and Rehabilitation, 44(15), 3946–3958. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2021.1895333
Vaezipour, A., Aldridge, D., Koenig, S., Burns, C., Baghaei, N., Theodoros, D., & Russell, T. (2023). Rehabilitation Supported by Immersive Virtual Reality for Adults With Communication Disorders: Semistructured Interviews and Usability Survey Study. JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies, 10(1), e46959–e46959. https://doi.org/10.2196/46959
Burns C.L. & Hill A.J. (2022) Principles of practice for telepractice in speech pathology. Melbourne, Speech Pathology Australia.
Vaezipour, A., Aldridge, D., Koenig, S., Theodoros, D., & Russell, T. (2021). “It’s really exciting to think where it could go”: a mixed-method investigation of clinician acceptance, barriers and enablers of virtual reality technology in communication rehabilitation. Disability and Rehabilitation, 44(15), 3946–3958. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2021.1895333
Vaezipour, A., Aldridge, D., Koenig, S., Burns, C., Baghaei, N., Theodoros, D., & Russell, T. (2023). Rehabilitation Supported by Immersive Virtual Reality for Adults With Communication Disorders: Semistructured Interviews and Usability Survey Study. JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies, 10(1), e46959–e46959. https://doi.org/10.2196/46959
Burns C.L. & Hill A.J. (2022) Principles of practice for telepractice in speech pathology. Melbourne, Speech Pathology Australia.
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Dr Clare Burns is an Advanced Speech Pathologist and Research Coordinator at the Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital, and a Senior Research Fellow at the RECOVER Injury Research Centre, The University of Queensland, Australia. She has over 20 years of clinical experience and for the last 12 years has led research in dysphagia, head and neck cancer and technology enabled health care including telehealth and virtual reality. Clare is passionate about utilizing technology to enhance health service access and consumer outcomes.
Session chair
Katerina Fusco
Flinders University + Self-employed (private Sp)
The information contained in this program is current at of the time of publishing but is subject to changes made without notice.
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