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Older Adults and Voice Interaction: A Pilot Study with Google Home
Jarosław Kowalski, Anna Jaskulska, Kinga Skorupska, Katarzyna Abramczuk, Cezary Biele, Wiesław Kopeć, Krzysztof Marasek
TL;DR
The paper explores how voice assistants paired with smart-home technology might benefit older adults and what barriers they encounter. It reports an exploratory qualitative study of older adults’ interactions and identifies potential uses, benefits, and barriers. The authors conclude that the technology has potential to empower some groups of older adults, while calling for further study beyond the technology-conscious group in Poland.
Problem
The authors seek to understand potential benefits and barriers of voice assistants combined with smart-home technology for older adults, an area they say warrants investigation across cultural contexts.
Source: INTRODUCTION · p. 2, RELATED WORK · p. 2Method
A scenario-based qualitative study with seven active older adults in Warsaw recorded and transcribed group interviews for affinity analysis.
Source: METHODS · p. 3Results
The authors conclude that voice interfaces combined with IoT may address cognitive and physical needs of many older adults and have potential to empower some groups.
Source: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK · p. 5Takeaways & Limitations
Participants identified available and additional voice-assistant smart-home applications as useful, including applications that could spare effort and free time.
Source: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK · p. 5The findings are preliminary and come from technology-conscious older adults in Poland, so further research should test them with different potential user groups.
Source: DISCUSSION · p. 5, CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK · p. 6
Abstract
from arXiv · showhide
In this paper we present the results of an exploratory study examining the potential of voice assistants (VA) for some groups of older adults in the context of Smart Home Technology (SHT). To research the aspect of older adults' interaction with voice user interfaces (VUI) we organized two workshops and gathered insights concerning possible benefits and barriers to the use of VA combined with SHT by older adults. Apart from evaluating the participants' interaction with the devices during the two workshops we also discuss some improvements to the VA interaction paradigm.
INTRODUCTION
The paper asks how voice interfaces paired with smart-home technology might serve older adults, and what barriers or strengths should inform their design. It investigates this through two focus-group studies.
INTRODUCTION
- Voice interfaces may let some older adults use ICT-enabled solutions actively and comfortably on their own.The authors see this as a potential benefit of increasingly user-friendly VUIs.Source: INTRODUCTION · p. 2
- Understanding barriers and building on VUI strengths could inform the design of commercial smart-home devices.The paper connects this design goal to the potential of the Silver Economy.Source: INTRODUCTION · p. 2
- The study examines older adults’ interaction with voice assistants combined with smart-home technology through two focus-group studies using the same scenario.It explores benefits, barriers, expected functions, and possible improvements to the interaction paradigm.Source: INTRODUCTION · p. 2
RELATED WORK
Prior work has often framed aging through health, socialization, and technology stereotypes, while positive studies are comparatively rare. The authors identify a need to investigate voice interfaces across cultural contexts.
RELATED WORK
- Positive HCI studies involving older adults are described as rare, with many studies instead focusing on health, socialization, and technology stereotypes.The cited positive studies draw on strengths such as life experience and language proficiency.Source: RELATED WORK · p. 2
- Older adults may value increased ICT proficiency when it helps them pursue personal goals, including communication, finance, and interests.Some older adults also join LivingLab ICT initiatives despite barriers to involvement.Source: RELATED WORK · p. 2
- The authors call for further study of voice-assistant usability with older adults in multiple cultural contexts to inform more accessible voice interfaces.Figure 1 is identified as an equipment connection diagram.Source: RELATED WORK · p. 2, Figure 1 · p. 2
METHODS
The study used a Google Home system and scenario-based group interviews with seven older adults in Warsaw. Participants explored voice-assistant and smart-home functions in two small affinity groups.
METHODS
- The setup combined a voice-assistant speaker and smartphone with peripherals including a TV, Android TV set-top box, light controllers, and Wi-Fi relays.Online accounts were preconnected in the Google Home application; Table 1 lists the equipment and Figure 1 depicts connections.Source: METHODS · p. 3, Table 1 · p. 3
- Seven retired Warsaw residents, aged 64–89, participated; the authors characterized them as active users with above-basic ICT skills.The group included three women and four men, with a mean age of 73.14 years (SD=8.64).Source: METHODS · p. 3
- Participants took part in scenario-based group interviews, and recordings were transcribed to create an affinity diagram of key themes and quotes.The scenario included discussion of situations where technology could help at home and a presentation of the Google Home system.Source: METHODS · p. 3
RESULTS
Participants saw voice assistants as convenient and potentially useful for older adults, while identifying needs around understandable feedback, accessible interaction, and control. They also proposed smart-home uses and raised concerns about context awareness and device compatibility.
RESULTS
- Participants were impressed by voice assistants’ range of possibilities and perceived convenience for older adults.They described the technology as potentially simpler than having to devise actions themselves.Source: RESULTS · p. 3
- Four needs emerged, including understanding the technology and receiving coherent feedback that explains what to do when something goes wrong.Participants contrasted this need with younger people’s ability to omit explanatory steps.Source: RESULTS · p. 3
- Participants valued speech-based tasks as accessible and easy to fit into daily activity, including when movement is difficult or their hands are busy.They also anticipated saving time, walking, and searching.Source: RESULTS · p. 4
- Participants wanted assurance that devices would follow commands correctly and worried about losing control, including whether a stove would actually turn off.They also described conversational interaction as allowing a self-paced, screen-free exchange using natural language.Source: RESULTS · p. 4
- Participants imagined Google Home as a central unit for operating other devices, managing home settings, and saving energy, but raised context-awareness and compatibility concerns.Privacy was mentioned but was not a prominent concern.Source: RESULTS · p. 4
- Participants expected voice assistants to support hands-free information searching, memory, translation, and teaching, and reported satisfaction after little training and encouragement.Some suggested training sessions could help more older people warm to the technology.Source: RESULTS · p. 4
DISCUSSION
The study identifies preliminary benefits, barriers, and possible VA applications for older adults, while noting the limited scope of its technology-conscious Polish participant group.
DISCUSSION
- The authors present preliminary benefits and barriers, with Table 3 summarizing observed barriers alongside possible solutions and comments.The participants were technology-conscious older adults in Poland, and the authors note that findings may extend to other groups.Source: DISCUSSION · p. 5, Table 3 · p. 5
- The authors identify everyday, leisure, and smart-home safety or caretaker roles as possible VA application categories.Examples include alarms, shopping lists, weather and traffic information, audio books, language learning, and turning off lights or the stove.Source: DISCUSSION · p. 5
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
This exploratory qualitative study finds VA combined with IoT promising for some older adults and identifies possible applications, benefits, barriers, and improvement suggestions. These preliminary findings come from technology-conscious older adults in Poland and require verification with other user groups.
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
- VA interfaces combined with IoT may suit many older adults' cognitive and physical needs and have potential to empower some groups.The study describes its conclusions as preliminary and exploratory.Source: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK · p. 5
- The authors matched identified benefits and barriers with improvement suggestions, solutions, and comments for further discussion.Source: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK · p. 5
- Participants identified available VA-SHT applications as useful and suggested additional applications that could spare effort and free up time.Source: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK · p. 5
- The study's participants were technology-conscious older adults in Poland, limiting the scope of the preliminary findings.Source: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK · p. 5
- Further research should verify the preliminary benefits and barriers with different potential user groups to distinguish group-specific insights from general ones.Source: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK · p. 6