Music Therapy in Virtual Reality for Autistic Children with Severe Learning Disabilities

Valentin Bauer (1, 2) , Ali Adjorlu (3, 4) , Linnea Bjerregaard Pedersen , Tifanie Bouchara Bouchara (2, 1, 5) , Stefania Serafin (3, 4)

1 LISN - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Sciences du Numérique
2 VENISE - Virtual & augmented ENvIronments for Simulation & Experiments - LISN
3 AAU - Aalborg University [Denmark]
4 Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology [Aalborg]
5 Université Paris-Saclay

Music Therapy (MT) has shown many benefits in helping autistic children, but some challenges remain due to children's social anxiety and sensory issues. Yet, very few studies have investigated how Virtual Reality (VR) could help to increase the accessibility of MT approaches. This paper presents an exploratory study investigating the use of VR to perform MT sessions for autistic children with severe learning disabilities and complex needs. The study is performed in terms of acceptability, usability, and social communication. A collaborative MT approach was designed in close collaboration with music therapists from Denmark and psychologists from France, using head-mounted display-based VR. Testing were conducted with thirteen children with various neurodevelopmental conditions and intellectual disabilities at a children's day hospital in Paris. The results indicate positive acceptability and usability for these children, and suggest a positive effect of MT in VR regarding communication.

Mots clés: Virtual Reality; Music therapy; Performing arts; People with disabilities

Domaines: Synthèse d'image et réalité virtuelle [cs.GR]; Interface homme-machine [cs.HC]

Valentin Bauer, Ali Adjorlu, Linnea Bjerregaard Pedersen, Tifanie Bouchara Bouchara, Stefania Serafin. Music Therapy in Virtual Reality for Autistic Children with Severe Learning Disabilities. VRST 2023: 29th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology, Oct 2023, Christchurch, New Zealand. pp.1-9, ⟨10.1145/3611659.3615713⟩. ⟨hal-04415204⟩