Attitudes and Perceptions Toward Voice-Operated Smart Speakers Among Low-Income Senior Housing Residents: Comparison of Pre- and Post-Installation Surveys.
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SUBMITTER: Chung J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8762486 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BackgroundThe use of smart speakers to improve well-being had been trialed in social care by others; however, we were not aware of their implementation in most care homes across a region in the Southwest of the United Kingdom. For the widespread adoption of new technology, it must be locally demonstrable and become normalized.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to install smart speakers in care homes in a rural and coastal region and to explore if and how the devices were being used, the barriers to their implementation, and their potential benefits.MethodsEmail, workshops, drop-in sessions, phone, and cold calling was used to contact all 230 care homes, offering a free smart speaker and some advisory support. Care homes accepting the devices were asked to complete a feedback diary. Nonresponse rate for diary completion was high and was thus supplemented with a telephone survey.ResultsOver the course of 7 months, we installed 156 devices in 92 care homes for older people, 50 devices for people with physical or mental health needs, and 8 for others. The devices were used mainly for music but also for poetry, recipes, light controls, jokes, and video calls. Care home managers reported the benefits for the residents, including enhanced engagement with home activities, enjoyment, calming effects, and the acquisition of new skills. Implementation problems included internet connectivity, staff capacity, and skills.ConclusionsAffordable consumer devices such as smart speakers should be installed in all care homes to benefit residents. Voice-activated technologies are easy to use and promote interaction. This study indicates that implementation in care homes was possible and that smart speakers had multifaceted benefits for residents and staff. Most care homes in this region now use smart speakers for their residents, thereby normalizing this practice.
| S-EPMC8726051 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Little is known about the nature or extent of everyday variability in voice quality. This paper describes a series of principal component analyses to explore within- and between-talker acoustic variation and the extent to which they conform to expectations derived from current models of voice perception. Based on studies of faces and cognitive models of speaker recognition, the authors hypothesized that a few measures would be important across speakers, but that much of within-speaker variability would be idiosyncratic. Analyses used multiple sentence productions from 50 female and 50 male speakers of English, recorded over three days. Twenty-six acoustic variables from a psychoacoustic model of voice quality were measured every 5?ms on vowels and approximants. Across speakers the balance between higher harmonic amplitudes and inharmonic energy in the voice accounted for the most variance (females?=?20%, males?=?22%). Formant frequencies and their variability accounted for an additional 12% of variance across speakers. Remaining variance appeared largely idiosyncratic, suggesting that the speaker-specific voice space is different for different people. Results further showed that voice spaces for individuals and for the population of talkers have very similar acoustic structures. Implications for prototype models of voice perception and recognition are discussed.
| S-EPMC6909978 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe frequency components of the human voice play a major role in signalling the gender of the speaker. A voice imitation study was conducted to investigate individuals' ability to make behavioural adjustments to fundamental frequency (F0), and formants (Fi) in order to manipulate their expression of voice gender.Methodology/principal findingsThirty-two native British-English adult speakers were asked to read out loud different types of text (words, sentence, passage) using their normal voice and then while sounding as 'masculine' and 'feminine' as possible. Overall, the results show that both men and women raised their F0 and Fi when feminising their voice, and lowered their F0 and Fi when masculinising their voice.Conclusions/significanceThese observations suggest that adult speakers are capable of spontaneous glottal and vocal tract length adjustments to express masculinity and femininity in their voice. These results point to a "gender code", where speakers make a conventionalized use of the existing sex dimorphism to vary the expression of their gender and gender-related attributes.
| S-EPMC3281965 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background and objectivesComputerized cognitive interventions (CCIs) have been increasingly implemented among older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, older individuals' attitudes toward technology may limit CCI engagement. This exploratory-developmental study examined whether a "multi-functional interactive computer system" (MICS), which provides pleasurable activities via computer, would improve attitudes toward computers and in turn increase the efficacy of a subsequent CCI.Research design and methodsA phase one double-blind trial randomized 49 seniors with MCI to a MICS + CCI condition or a CCI-only condition. Attitudes toward technology use was assessed using The Attitudes Toward Computers Questionnaire (ATCQ), and cognition was assessed using episodic memory and executive function composite scores at baseline, the ends of MICS and CCI phases, and 3-month follow-up.ResultsThe MICS + CCI group did not show significantly greater improvement in cognition than the CCI only group. Secondary analyses indicated that improvement in executive function from baseline occurred in both groups. Participants who did show improved attitudes toward computers, whether through MICS or simply computer exposure itself, showed improvement in executive function.Discussion and implicationParticipants in the MICS + CCI group used MICS less than expected. A more structured and supervised approach may be needed to facilitate MICS exposure. Improved attitudes toward computers regardless of MICS exposure may benefit candidates for CCI.
| S-EPMC9292062 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Empirical research had initially shown that English listeners are able to identify the speakers' sexual orientation based on voice cues alone. However, the accuracy of this voice-based categorization, as well as its generalizability to other languages (language-dependency) and to non-native speakers (language-specificity), has been questioned recently. Consequently, we address these open issues in 5 experiments: First, we tested whether Italian and German listeners are able to correctly identify sexual orientation of same-language male speakers. Then, participants of both nationalities listened to voice samples and rated the sexual orientation of both Italian and German male speakers. We found that listeners were unable to identify the speakers' sexual orientation correctly. However, speakers were consistently categorized as either heterosexual or gay on the basis of how they sounded. Moreover, a similar pattern of results emerged when listeners judged the sexual orientation of speakers of their own and of the foreign language. Overall, this research suggests that voice-based categorization of sexual orientation reflects the listeners' expectations of how gay voices sound rather than being an accurate detector of the speakers' actual sexual identity. Results are discussed with regard to accuracy, acoustic features of voices, language dependency and language specificity.
| S-EPMC4488841 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Heart rhythm assessment is indispensable in diagnosis and management of many cardiac conditions and to study heart rate variability in healthy individuals. We present a proof-of-concept system for acquiring individual heart beats using smart speakers in a fully contact-free manner. Our algorithms transform the smart speaker into a short-range active sonar system and measure heart rate and inter-beat intervals (R-R intervals) for both regular and irregular rhythms. The smart speaker emits inaudible 18-22 kHz sound and receives echoes reflected from the human body that encode sub-mm displacements due to heart beats. We conducted a clinical study with both healthy participants and hospitalized cardiac patients with diverse structural and arrhythmic cardiac abnormalities including atrial fibrillation, flutter and congestive heart failure. Compared to electrocardiogram (ECG) data, our system computed R-R intervals for healthy participants with a median error of 28 ms over 12,280 heart beats and a correlation coefficient of 0.929. For hospitalized cardiac patients, the median error was 30 ms over 5639 heart beats with a correlation coefficient of 0.901. The increasing adoption of smart speakers in hospitals and homes may provide a means to realize the potential of our non-contact cardiac rhythm monitoring system for monitoring of contagious or quarantined patients, skin sensitive patients and in telemedicine settings.
| S-EPMC7943557 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Purpose Previous studies of speech articulation have shown that individuals who can perceive smaller differences between similar-sounding phonemes showed larger contrasts in their productions of those phonemes. Here, a similar relationship was examined between the perception and production of breathy voice quality. Method Twenty females with healthy voices were recruited to participate in both a voice production and a perception experiment. Each participant produced repetitions of a sustained vowel, and acoustic correlates of breathiness were calculated. Identification and discrimination tasks were performed with a series of synthetic stimuli along a breathiness continuum. Categorical boundary location and boundary width were obtained from the identification task as a measurement of perception of breathiness. Spearman's correlation analysis was performed to estimate associations between values of boundary location and width and the acoustic correlates of breathiness from the participants' voices. Results Significant correlations between boundary width (r = -.53 to -.6) and some acoustic correlates were found, but no significant relationships were observed between boundary location and the acoustic correlates. Conclusions Speakers with small boundary widths, which suggest higher perceptual precision in differentiating breathiness, had typical voices that were less breathy, as estimated with acoustic measures, compared to speakers with large boundary widths. Our findings may support a link between perception and production of breathy voice quality. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.9808478.
| S-EPMC7201331 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionIn 2012, the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) in Massachusetts implemented a smoke-free policy prohibiting smoking within its residences. We sought to characterize BHA resident experiences before and after the smoke-free policy implementation, and compare them to that of nearby residents of the Cambridge Housing Authority, which had no such policy.MethodsWe recruited a convenience sample of nonsmoking residents from the BHA and Cambridge Housing Authority. We measured residents' awareness and support of their local smoking policies before and 9-12 months after the BHA's policy implementation, as well as BHA respondents' attitudes towards the smoke-free policy. We assessed tobacco smoke exposure via saliva cotinine, airborne apartment nicotine, and self-reported number of days smelling smoke in the home. We evaluated predictors of general satisfaction at follow-up using linear regression.ResultsAt follow-up, 91% of BHA respondents knew that smoking was not allowed in apartments and 82% were supportive of such a policy in their building. BHA residents believed enforcement of the smoke-free policy was low. Fifty-one percent of BHA respondents indicated that other residents "never" or "rarely" followed the new smoke-free rule and 41% of respondents were dissatisfied with policy enforcement. Dissatisfaction with enforcement was the strongest predictor of general housing satisfaction, while objective and self-reported measures of tobacco smoke exposure were not predictive of satisfaction. At follow-up, 24% of BHA participants had complained to someone in charge about policy violations.ConclusionsResident support for smoke-free policies is high. However, lack of enforcement of smoke-free policies may cause frustration and resentment among residents, potentially leading to a decrease in housing satisfaction.ImplicationsSmoke-free housing laws are becoming increasingly prevalent, yet little is known about satisfaction and compliance with such policies post-implementation. We evaluated nonsmoking residents' attitudes about smoke-free rules and their satisfaction with enforcement 1 year after the BHA implemented its comprehensive smoke-free policy. We found that while residents were supportive of the policy, they believed enforcement was low, a perception that was associated with a drop in housing satisfaction. Our findings point to a desire for smoke-free housing among public housing residents, and the importance of establishing systems and guidelines to help landlords monitor and enforce these policies effectively.
| S-EPMC6407845 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Theorizing from humanistic and motivational literatures suggests attitude change may occur because high quality listening facilitates the insight needed to explore and integrate potentially threatening information relevant to the self. By extension, self-insight may enable attitude change as a result of conversations about prejudice. We tested whether high quality listening would predict attitudes related to speakers' prejudices and whether self-insight would mediate this effect. Study 1 (preregistered) examined scripted conversations characterized by high, regular, and poor listening quality. In Study 2, we manipulated high versus regular listening quality in the laboratory as speakers talked about their prejudiced attitudes. Finally, Study 3 (preregistered) used a more robust measure of prejudiced attitudes to test whether perceived social acceptance could be an alternative explanation to Study 2 findings. Across these studies, the exploratory (pilot study and Study 2) and confirmatory (Studies 1 & 3) findings were in line with expectations that high, versus regular and poor, quality listening facilitated lower prejudiced attitudes because it increased self-insight. A meta-analysis of the studies (N = 952) showed that the average effect sizes for high quality listening (vs. comparison conditions) on self-insight, openness to change and prejudiced attitudes were, ds = 1.19, 0.46, 0.32 95%CIs [0.73, 1.51], [0.29, 0.63] [0.12, 0.53], respectively. These results suggest that when having conversations about prejudice, high-quality listening modestly shapes prejudice following conversations about it, and underscore the importance of self-insight and openness to change in this process.
| S-EPMC7409873 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThere is growing interest in using perturbation-based balance training to improve the reactive response to common perturbations (eg, tripping and slipping). The goal of this study was to compare the efficacy of treadmill-based reactive balance training versus Tai Chi performed at, and among independent residents of, older adult senior housing.MethodsThirty-five residents from five senior housing facilities were allocated to either treadmill-based reactive balance training or Tai Chi training. Both interventions were performed three times per week for 4 weeks, with each session lasting approximately 30 minutes. A battery of balance tests was performed at baseline, and again 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months post-training. The battery included six standard clinical tests of balance and mobility, and a test of reactive balance performance.ResultsAt baseline, no significant between-group differences were found for any balance tests. After training, reactive balance training participants had better reactive balance than Tai Chi participants. Maximum trunk angle was 13.5° smaller among reactive balance training participants 1 week after training (p = .01), and a reactive balance rating was 24%-31% higher among reactive balance training participants 1 week to 6 months after training (p < .03). Clinical tests showed minimal differences between groups at any time point after training.ConclusionTrip-like reactive balance training performed at senior housing facilities resulted in better rapid balance responses compared with Tai Chi training.
| S-EPMC6696709 | biostudies-literature