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Effects of Wording and Gendered Voices on Acceptability of Voice Assistants in Future Autonomous Vehicles

Jestin, Iris; Fischer, Joel; Galvez Trigo, Maria Jose; Large, David R; Burnett, Gary

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Authors

Iris Jestin

JOEL FISCHER Joel.Fischer@nottingham.ac.uk
Professor of Human-Computer Interaction

Maria Jose Galvez Trigo

DAVID LARGE David.R.Large@nottingham.ac.uk
Senior Research Fellow

Gary Burnett



Abstract

Voice assistants in future autonomous vehicles may play a major role in supporting the driver during periods of a transfer of control with the vehicle (handover and handback). However, little is known about the effects of different qualities of the voice assistant on its perceived acceptability, and thus its potential to support the driver's trust in the vehicle. A desktop study was carried out with 18 participants, investigating the effects of three gendered voices and different wording of prompts during handover and handback driving scenarios on measures of acceptability. Participants rated prompts by the voice assistant in nine different driving scenarios, using 5-point Likert style items in a during and post-study questionnaire as well as a short interview at the end. A commanding/formally worded prompt was rated higher on most of the desirable measures of acceptability as compared to an informally worded prompt. The 'Matthew' voice used was perceived to be less artificial and more desirable than the 'Joanna' voice and the gender-Ambiguous 'Jordan' voice; however, we caution against interpreting these results as indicative of a general preference of gender, and instead discuss our results to throw light on the complex socio-phonetic nature of voices (including gender) and wording of voice assistants, and the need for careful consideration while designing the same. Results gained facilitate the drawing of insights needed to take better care when designing the voice and wording for voice assistants in future autonomous vehicles.

Citation

Jestin, I., Fischer, J., Galvez Trigo, M. J., Large, D. R., & Burnett, G. (2022). Effects of Wording and Gendered Voices on Acceptability of Voice Assistants in Future Autonomous Vehicles. In CUI '22: Proceedings of the 4th Conference on Conversational User Interfaces (1-11). https://doi.org/10.1145/3543829.3543836

Presentation Conference Type Conference Paper (Published)
Conference Name CUI 2022: 4th Conference on Conversational User Interfaces
Start Date Jul 26, 2022
End Date Jul 28, 2022
Acceptance Date Apr 8, 2022
Online Publication Date Jul 25, 2022
Publication Date Sep 15, 2022
Deposit Date Jun 13, 2022
Publicly Available Date Jul 25, 2022
Publisher Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Pages 1-11
Book Title CUI '22: Proceedings of the 4th Conference on Conversational User Interfaces
DOI https://doi.org/10.1145/3543829.3543836
Keywords autonomous vehicles; voice assistant; acceptability; gendered voice; wording; handover; handback
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/8493583
Additional Information This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in CUI '22: Conversational User Interfaces, July 26-28 2022, Glasgow, UK, https://doi.org/10.1145/3543829.3543836.

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