Understanding the needs and challenges of using conversational agents for deaf older adults

Johnna Blair, Saeed Abdullah

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

Conversational agents (CAs) with voice interfaces are becoming ubiquitous and are routinely used by a wide range of individuals. Users with vision and mobility issues can leverage the voice interfaces of CAs to complete tasks with increasing complexity. However, CAs with voice interfaces pose unique challenges for those with diferent accessibility needs - specifically, older adults with hearing loss. There has been litle work to understand how deaf older adults leverage CAs and the challenges they face while using voice interfaces. To address this gap, we conduct in-depth qualitative interviews with 4 deaf older adults to understand how and why they use CAs. We explore their expectations for their devices and identify common challenges (e.g., default voices used by commercial CAs). We provide suggestions for designing CAs that can beter accommodate a range of hearing abilities and provide the first step forward toward a more inclusive CA.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationCSCW 2019 Companion - Conference Companion Publication of the 2019 Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
Pages161-165
Number of pages5
ISBN (Electronic)9781450366922
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 9 2019
Event22nd ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, CSCW 2019 - Austin, United States
Duration: Nov 9 2019Nov 13 2019

Publication series

NameProceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW

Conference

Conference22nd ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, CSCW 2019
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityAustin
Period11/9/1911/13/19

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Software
  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Human-Computer Interaction

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