Cicero (106-43 BC) was one of the greatest orators of ancient Roman society, influencing the history of prose not only in Latin but also in European languages as recently as the 19th century. Fitting then, that his name might be borrowed for a program being designed at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies that aims to help people overcome their fear of public speaking.
The program provides a virtual audience made to react, non-threateningly, to a would-be public speaker’s performance. By peering through virtual reality glasses, users can watch animated avatars give feedback as they speak. If the speaker manages to engage the audience, the avatars lean forward, display “interested” facial expressions, nod their heads and so on. If not, they lean back, look disinterested and shake their heads.
What defines engaging the audience? Nonverbal cues, such as the presenter’s facial expression, volume and body language.
The team behind Cicero, Stefan Scherer and Mathieu Chollet, received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and started working on the program in 2013. Several avatars have been created, with around 1,000 different reactions coded by Chollet, a postdoctoral researcher at USC ICT.
Scherer, a USC research assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, believes that public speaking is threatening to many people and can frequently cause anxiety. Chollet adds that Cicero allows users to expose themselves to that anxiety-inducing environment of public speaking one step at a time.
Although the program isn’t ready for commercialization, Scherer says that he anticipates a wide range of uses for it. In fact, the research now has broader implications -- such as for those with schizophrenia, for whom social interaction can be particularly difficult. An interactive avatar like Cicero, responding to them in real time and helping them learn to recognize social cues, could serve as an important tool for improving social interaction skills. A small trial is now being conducted at the San Francisco VA clinic to help veterans with schizophrenia.
