older adults' evaluations of speech output
Speech output is frequently used to provide access to interactive systems for visually impaired users, many of whom are older adults. This paper considers the use of speech output within the context of an Intelligent Home System designed to allow older adults to remain living independently for longer. The importance of user evaluations of the system 'voice' in this context is discussed and an experiment is reported that investigated the effect of voice gender and type (natural or synthetic) on older users' evaluations. A within-subjects factorial design was used with sixteen participants over the age of 65. The results show that male voices were preferred to female voices overall and natural voices were preferred to synthetic voices. The implications of these results for the choice of system voice characteristics for speech output are discussed.
older adults speech output visual impairment human-computer interaction assistive technology intelligent home systems.