Message from the Co-Chairs ProComm 2025 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference, 2025 For 2025, the IEEE Professional Communication Society (PCS) was fortunate to have a conference proposal from the team at the Centre for Industrial Electronics (CIE) and the CIE Acoustics Lab at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU). Our local co-chairs, Oliver Niebuhr and —o Valls-Rat's, bring a vibrant and unique perspective about the physicality of professional communication. A crucial component here that frames our conference theme is multimodal communication, that is, the layers of communication—text and images, speech and body language—that interact and interfere in the creation of attractive and effective messages.
The Impact of Prosody and Gestures on Perceived CEO Charisma and Organizational Crisis Communication Outcomes Christian Rudeloff, Silke Tegtmeier, Oliver Niebuhr, Ïo Valls-Ratés IEEE International Professional Communication Conference, 2025 To minimise reputational damage in the event of a communications crisis, companies need to implement appropriate communications strategies. The CEO as a company's spokesperson and his or her charisma play potentially an important role in this context. Against this background, we conducted a pilot experiment to investigate whether 1) a CEO can build up charisma through nonverbal cues in a video statement, 2) this charisma has positive effects on organizational crisis communication outcomes, and 3) the involvement level is a moderator for these effects. The results show that medium prosodic cues and medium salience of gestures lead to higher perceived CEO charisma, which in turn positively influences consumers' attitudes towards the company, and reduces negative-of-word-mouth intentions during a crisis. This effect is significantly stronger in a low involvement scenario.
Gestures and Feet Can Tell Us how You Speak! on the Relationships between Voice and Body Language in VR Public Speeches Oliver Niebuhr, Ïo Valls-Ratés IEEE International Professional Communication Conference, 2024 Effective communication hinges on the speaker's delivery, which comprises two non-verbal channels: vocal performance or speech prosody and body language. The two channels interact in complex ways with words – and with each other. And yet, there remains a significant gap in understanding how prosody is linked to or influenced by body language. Our research addresses this gap, investigating correlations of acoustic-prosodic features with the activity patterns of hands and feet. We conducted a study with 28 participants, tasked with delivering a 1-2 minute oral presentation. Using a VR headset, each participant presented in front of a virtual audience. The results not only confirmed expected correlations but also revealed novel insights: (1) Higher gesture rates correlated with more resonant and powerful voices; (2) increased steps per minute led to more silent pauses in speech and less pronounced acoustic indicators for jaw movements, indicating less clear articulation; (3) involvement of both hands resulted in higher pitch levels; (4) standing mainly on heels led to deeper pitch falls and more variable timbre. We discuss the implications of our results for practical speaking training and, more generally, the multi-channel construction of communicative meaning.
VR Public Speaking Simulations Can Make Voices Stronger and More Effortful Ïo Valls-Ratés, Oliver Niebuhr, Pilar Prieto International Conference on Computer Supported Education Csedu Proceedings, 2024 : In the field of public speaking, studies have mainly centered on the effects of virtual reality (VR) environments in reducing public speaking anxiety (PSA). However, prior research on the effect of VR simulations on high-school students' performance in terms of the prosody of their speech and number of gestures while being immersed in a VR scenario is limited to just one study. The present paper examines the effects of practicing speeches with a VR-simulated audience on self-perceived PSA, and speaking performance qualified on the basis of the prosodic characteristics of the presenter’s voice and the rate of gestures they use while presenting. Forty-seven high school students participated in either a VR group that practiced a two-minute speech in front of a virtual audience, or a Non-VR group that delivered the same oral presentation alone in a room. Crucially, these were compared with a baseline initial oral task where students presented in front of a live audience. Practicing with VR resulted in significant differences across the groups pointing to VR-trained voices becoming stronger, more effortful and louder. Simulated audience seems to help speakers develop more audience-oriented prosody. This is particularly useful for rehearsing public speaking skills in the context of secondary school education to improve students' oral competence.
Encouraging participant embodiment during VR-assisted public speaking training improves persuasiveness and charisma and reduces anxiety in secondary school students Ïo Valls-Ratés, Oliver Niebuhr, Pilar Prieto Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 2023 Practicing public speaking to simulated audiences created in virtual reality environments is reported to be effective for reducing public speaking anxiety. However, little is known about whether this effect can be enhanced by encouraging the use of gestures during VR-assisted public speaking training. In the present study two groups of secondary schools underwent a three-session public speaking training program in which they delivered short speeches to VR-simulated audiences. One group was encouraged to “embody” their speeches through gesture while the other was given no instructions regarding the use of gesture. Before and after the training sessions participants underwent respectively a pre- and a post-training session, which consisted of delivering a similar short speech to a small live audience. At pre- and post-training sessions, participants’ levels of anxiety were self-assessed, their speech performances were rated for persuasiveness and charisma by independent raters, and their verbal output was analyzed for prosodic features and gesture rate. Results showed that both groups significantly reduced their self-assessed anxiety between the pre- and post-training sessions. Persuasiveness and charisma ratings increased for both groups, but to a significantly greater extent in the gesture-using group. However, the prosodic and gestural features analyzed showed no significant differences across groups or from pre-to post-training speeches. Thus, our results seem to indicate that encouraging the use of gesture in VR-assisted public speaking practice can help students be more charismatic and their delivery more persuasive before presenting in front of a live audience.
Unguided virtual-reality training can enhance the oral presentation skills of high-school students Ïo Valls-Ratés, Oliver Niebuhr, Pilar Prieto Frontiers in Communication, 2022 Public speaking is fundamental in our daily life, and it happens to be challenging for many people. Like all aspects of language, these skills should be encouraged early on in educational settings. However, the high number of students per class and the extensive curriculum both limit the possibilities of the training and, moreover, entail that students give short in-class presentations under great time pressure. Virtual Reality (VR) environments can help speakers and teachers meet these challenges and foster oral skills. This experimental study employs a between-subjects pre- and post-training design with four Catalan high-school student groups, a VR group (N = 30) and a Non-VR group (N = 20). Both groups gave a 2-min speech in front of a live audience before (pre-training) and after (post-training) 3 training sessions (one session per week) in which they practiced public speaking either in front of a VR audience or alone in a classroom (Non-VR). Students assessed their anxiety measures right before performing every speech and filled out a satisfaction questionnaire at the end. Pre- and post-training speeches were assessed by 15 raters, who analyzed the persuasiveness of the message and the charisma of the presenter. Speeches were also analyzed for prosodic features and gesture rate. First, results showed that self-assessed anxiety got significantly reduced at post-training for both conditions. Second, acoustic analyses of both groups' speeches show that the VR group has, unlike the Non-VR group, developed a more clear and resonant voice quality in the post-training speeches, in terms of higher cepstral-peak prominence (CPP) (although no significant differences in f0- related parameters as a function of training were obtained), as well as significantly less erosion effects than the Non-VR group. However, these differences across groups did not trigger a direct improvement on the participants' gesture rate, persuasiveness and charisma at post-training. Furthermore, students perceived the training in the VR environment to be more useful and beneficial for their future oral presentations than the Non-VR group. All in all, short unguided VR training sessions can help students feel less anxious, promote a more clear and resonant voice style, and can prevent them from experiencing an erosion effect while practicing speeches in front of a real audience.
Unguided VR public-speaking training enhances your confidence - but does not improve your intonation Io Valls-Ratés, Oliver Niebuhr, Pilar Prieto Proceedings of the International Conference on Speech Prosody, 2022 Public speaking is essential in our daily life. However, standing in front of a crowd is more often than not challenging for people. VR simulations can help speakers meet this challenge. Our study employed a between-subjects design with a VR group (N=17) and a Non-VR group (N=14). Both groups gave a 2-minute speech in front of a live audience before (PRE) and after (POST) they practiced public speaking in front of a VR audience or alone in a classroom (Non-VR). Each group had three of these VR or Non-VR training sessions, one per week. Acoustic analyses of both groups’ PRE vs. POST prosodies show that 1) the two groups did not differ significantly in f0-related parameters as a function of training (f0 level, f0 range, f0 sd, f0 min/max), 2) the VR group has, unlike the Non-VR group, developed a stronger, clearer and more confident way of presenting, in terms of a longer talking time, fewer disfluent pauses, lower speaking rate, higher CPP and HNR, and lower jitter and shimmer levels. Thus, unguided VR training can help people give more persuasive speeches in real-life presentations, but we assume (consistent with previous research) that guided feedback is required to also improve people's speech melody.
