Browsing by Subject "puheen ymmärtäminen"

Aim. Rehabilitation of oral comprehension is important but challenging; there are few effective methods for rehabilitating oral comprehension. Virtual reality may provide effective rehabilitation methods, but research data on the use of virtual reality in speech therapy rehabilitation is scarce and the data have focused on adult aphasia patients and children with autism spectrum. These studies have provided promising evidence for the use of virtual reality in speech therapy, but there is a need for more research on virtual reality so it can be used effectively in speech therapy rehabilitation. The aim of this pilot study is to find out how the developed virtual reality exercise is suitable for oral comprehension rehabilitation and what kind of user experiences typically developed children aged 4–10 have from exercise. Methods. Eight typically developed children aged 4 to 10 years were selected for this pilot study. The material consisted of linguistic-cognitive assessments, the exercise with head mounted display and the data of the exercise, interviews with children and video recordings. The data of the exercise (total result, duration of the exercise, interruptions during the exercise and the angle of the gaze) were analyzed statistically and the interview data both statistically and qualitatively. Results and conclusions. The results show that the exercise performed in virtual reality provides reliable objective information about the relationship between gaze behavior and speech comprehension, and the variables, overall result, duration, interruptions, and angle selected for the study indicate performance in the exercise. The exercise developed based on these results is fit for purpose. The subjects found the exercise and virtual reality training interesting, but the motivation of the exercise still needs to be developed. The results cannot be generalized due to the small sample size, but due to the lack of relevant research data, they provide valuable information on the use of virtual reality in children’s speech therapy rehabilitation and support the view that virtual reality can provide effective rehabilitation methods for speech comprehension in the future.