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Vrbal Vr App by Yuka Fukuoka |
Home > Winners > Design #81711 >Interview |
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FS: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
YF: Through the use of our virtual reality and artificial intelligence hybrid solution, the user can practice for an upcoming social event in the most realistic and personalized way possible. Currently, there is no effective way for individuals with social anxiety to practice coping techniques for an upcoming anxiety inducing event in a realistic environment. The most common method for practicing for a job interview or a presentation is by role-playing with a relative, friend, or therapist. The problem with role-playing however is that the person with social anxiety is already comfortable with the individual they role-play with and therefore it is not an accurate representation of the event to be practiced. VRbal can solve the above problem.
FS: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
YF: VRbal aims to replace the currently outdated practice of Applied Behavioral Analysis. Also, this project acts as an example of the level of high precision and realism that a customizable VR experience could have in the future. 1% of the total population are stutterers and many adult stutterers suffer from secondary issues such as depression and social anxiety disorders. Therefore, this application has the potential to solve many of the issues which burden many people all over the world.
FS: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
YF: Weare currently considering two market approaches, direct sales or sell to therapy service providers.
FS: What made you design this particular type of work?
YF: Our team believes that the scope of this project goes beyond behavioral therapy and special education. Vrbal can also lead to innovations in education and training simulations for businesses. The implementation of a smart augmented or virtual reality environment could not only have the potential to create more realistic new media experiences, but also further the idea of customization in these newly emerging spaces. Actually one of our team members is a stutterer. So, we know stuttering affects communication skills that can lead to the development of social anxiety disorder. We posited that this is the core problem.
FS: Who is the target customer for his design?
YF: Ourtarget users are people who have communication disorders, especially stuttering and social anxiety.1% of the total population are stutterers, and it is said that there are more than 1.2 million in Japan, 3 million in the U.S, and over 70 million worldwide. (Source: stutteringhelp.org)Many people have secondary issues such as depression and social anxiety disorders. To understand more about other issues caused by stuttering, please refer to a paper that was written by one of our team members, Yuka Fukuoka, here. VRbalis targeting the US market initially and currently we are focusing on college students and working professionals (age 18-40), who are actively looking for a training methods to help cope with their social anxieties. We have conducted use tests on over 40 users, all within this demography.
FS: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
YF: VR + Verbal = VRbal
FS: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
YF: Ourproject is innovative because it combines both virtual reality and artificial intelligence to create a personalized immersive experience. In other words, the user defines what they see, hear, and do in virtual reality. Unlike any other virtual therapy experience, we are proposing the combination of these two emerging technologies to create an impactful user experience that is defined by each individual user. Through the use of an artificial intelligence agent, we are also able to fully immerse the user in the virtual world, away from the distractions that text can cause in an immersive environment.
FS: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
YF: Theexperts at Envrmnt Lab supported our idea and were our mentors for 3 months. They suggested us to work on A/B testing to figure out which type of level designs users respond more positively to. They also helped us come up with user testing agreements and provided us supports during testing sessions.
FS: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
YF: We interviewed with many stutters, their parents, and speech-language pathologists. We expanded the network by contacting stuttering institutions. After that, we analyzed and integrated the insights got from the ones I got through interviews with stutterers who have difficulty with job interviews.
FS: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
YF: Through this work, I learned that the most important thing for a designer is empathy.
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
A' Design Award and Competitions grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award and Competitions cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.
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