How children speak with their voice assistant Sila depends on what they think about her

Bibliographic Data

ID21563369
AuthorsAnja Gampe (0000-0001-9812-9694, University of Duisburg-Essen, corresponding author), Katharina Zahner-Ritter (0000-0003-1954-6436, Universität Trier), Joanna Joys Müller (0000-0003-3875-4505, ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences), Sarah Rebecca Schmid (0000-0002-1212-6474, ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences)
Year2023
Volume143
Pages107693
Publication date2023-06-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueComputers in Human Behavior (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0747-5632 • E-ISSN: 1873-7692
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.chb.2023.107693
OpenAlexW4319337088
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited51

Children encounter artificial intelligence , e.g., voice assistants , at an increasingly younger age. However, we know far too little about children's communicative behavior with a voice-only interaction partner and whether and how their assumptions about the interaction partner predict how they communicate. To address these aspects, we ran a treasure hunt game with 50 5-6-year-olds who were guided through the hunt by a voice-only interaction partner “Sila” – acted by a human and connected via loudspeakers. Crucially, Sila was introduced either as a human or a voice assistant. We employed easy communication trials in which communication went smoothly and challenging communication trials that contained staged misunderstandings. Results showed that at the group level, children differed in the way they adjusted their speech across experimental phases – both in quantity (fewer grounding turns and fewer syllables in speech directed to voice assistants) and quality (reduced increase in f0 and intensity in speech directed to voice assistants). Notably, the communicative behavior was predicted by children's individual parasocial relationship with their voice-only interaction partner. We discuss the relevance of our findings for developmental science at the interface with communication science and phonetics, and the direct practical implications we can infer for speech technology

Human voice · Nonverbal communication · Speech recognition · Child and Animal Learning Development · Communication · Computer Science · Psychology · Social Robot Interaction and HRI · Speech and dialogue systems

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