Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Effect of Naturalness of Voice and Empathic Responses on Enjoyment, Attitudes and Motivation for Interacting with a Voice User Interface

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Human-Computer Interaction. Multimodal and Natural Interaction (HCII 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 12182))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

In human-computer interaction much attention is given to the development of natural and intuitive Voice User Interfaces (VUI). However, previous research has shown that humanlike systems will not necessarily be perceived positive by users. The study reported here examined the effect of human likeness on users’ rating of enjoyment, attitudes and motivation to use VUI in a Wizard-of-Oz experiment. Two attributes of human likeness, voice of the system (humanlike vs. machinelike) and social behavior of the system (expressing empathy vs. neutral) were manipulated. Regression analyses confirmed that perceived empathy of the VUI improved interaction enjoyment, attitude towards the system, and intrinsic motivation but no effect of voice was found. Session order also affected participants’ evaluation. In the second session, participants rated the VUI as more negative than in the first session. The results indicate that a VUI that expresses social behavior (e.g. showing empathy) is perceived as more favorable by the user. Furthermore, changing user expectations pose a challenge for the design of the VUI. The dynamics of user interactions must be taken into account when designing the VUI.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Reeves, B., Nass, C.I.: The media equation: how people treat computers, television, and new media like real people and places. Center for the Study of Language and Information Cambridge University Press (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Lee, J.D., See, K.A.: Trust in automation: designing for appropriate reliance. Hum. Factors 46(1), 50–80 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Dzindolet, M.T., et al.: The role of trust in automation reliance. Int. J. Hum Comput Stud. 58(6), 697–718 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Araujo, T.: Living up to the chatbot hype: the influence of anthropomorphic design cues and communicative agency framing on conversational agent and company perceptions. Comput. Hum. Behav. 85, 183–189 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Nass, C., Lee, K.M.: Does computer-synthesized speech manifest personality? experimental tests of recognition, similarity-attraction, and consistency-attraction. J. Exp. Psychol. Appl. 7(3), 171–181 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Nass, C., Moon, Y.: Machines and mindlessness: social responses to computers. J. Soc. Issues 56(1), 81–103 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Louwerse, M.M., et al.: Social cues in animated conversational agents. Appl. Cogn. Psychol. 19(6), 693–704 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Ruijten, P., Cuijpers, R.: Dynamic perceptions of human-likeness while interacting with a social robot. In: Proceedings of the Companion of the 2017 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, pp. 273–274. ACM, Vienna, Austria (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  9. von der Pütten, A.M., et al.: ‘It doesn’t matter what you are!’ explaining social effects of agents and avatars. Comput. Hum. Behav. 26(6), 1641–1650 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Hoff, K.A., Bashir, M.: Trust in automation: integrating empirical evidence on factors that influence trust. Hum. Factors 57(3), 407–434 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Manzey, D., et al.: Human performance consequences of automated decision aids: the impact of degree of automation and system experience. J. Cogn. Eng. Decis. Making 6(1), 57–87 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Mitchell, W.J., et al.: A mismatch in the human realism of face and voice produces an uncanny valley. i-Percept. 2(1), 10–12 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Złotowski, J., et al.: Appearance of a robot affects the impact of its behaviour on perceived trustworthiness and empathy. J. Behav. Robot. 7(1), 55–66 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Stárková, T., et al.: Anthropomorphisms in multimedia learning: Attract attention but do not enhance learning? J. Comput. Assist. Learn. 35(4), 555–568 (2019)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Ilves, M., Surakka, V.: Subjective responses to synthesised speech with lexical emotional content: The effect of the naturalness of the synthetic voice. Behav. Inf. Technol. 32(2), 117–131 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Muresan, A., Pohl, H.: Chats with bots: balancing imitation and engagement. In: Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1–6. ACM, Glasgow (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Lottridge, D., et al.: Affective interaction: understanding, evaluating, and designing for human emotion. Rev. Hum. Factors Ergon. 7, 197–237 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Leite, I., et al.: The influence of empathy in human–robot relations. Int. J. Hum Comput Stud. 71(3), 250–260 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Niculescu, A., et al.: Making social robots more attractive: The effects of voice pitch, humor and empathy. Int. J. Social Robot. 5(2), 171–191 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Butler, E.A.: Temporal interpersonal emotion systems: the “TIES” that form relationships. Pers. Soc. Psychol. Rev. 15(4), 367–393 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Main, A., et al.: The interpersonal functions of empathy: a relational perspective. Emot. Rev. 9(4), 358–366 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Butler, E.A.: Interpersonal affect dynamics: it takes two (and time) to tango. Emot. Rev. 7(4), 336–341 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Kupetz, M.: Empathy display as interactinal achievements - multimodal and sequential aspects. J. Pragmatics 61, 4–34 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Brave, S., et al.: Computers that care: investigating the effects of orientation of emotion exhibited by an embodied computer agent. Int. J. Hum Comput Stud. 62(2), 161–178 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Urakami, J., et al.: Users’ perception of empathic expressions by an advanced intelligent system. HAI, Kyoto (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Syrdal, D.S., et al.: The negative attitudes towards robots scale and reactions to robot behaviour in a live human-robot interaction study. Adaptive and Emergent Behaviour and Complex Systems (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Mercer, S.W., et al.: The consultation and relational empathy (CARE) measure: Development and preliminary validation and reliability of an empathy-based consultation process measure. Fam. Pract. 21(6), 699–705 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Sacco, D.F., Ismail, M.M.: Social belongingness satisfaction as a function of interaction medium: face-to-face interactions facilitate greater social belonging and interaction enjoyment compared to instant messaging. Comput. Hum. Behav. 36, 359–364 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Davis, F.D., et al.: User acceptance of computer technology: a comparison of two theoretical models. Manag. Sci. 35(8), 982–1003 (1989)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Davis, F.D., et al.: Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to use computers in the workplace. J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 22(14), 1111–1132 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Damiano, L., et al.: Artificial empathy: an interdisciplinary investigation. Int. J. Soc. Robot. 7(1), 3–5 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-014-0259-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank all the volunteers who participated in this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-Ku, Tokyo, 152-8552, Japan

    Jacqueline Urakami, Sujitra Sutthithatip & Billie Akwa Moore

Authors
  1. Jacqueline Urakami
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sujitra Sutthithatip
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Billie Akwa Moore
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jacqueline Urakami .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Open University of Japan, Chiba, Japan

    Masaaki Kurosu

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Urakami, J., Sutthithatip, S., Moore, B.A. (2020). The Effect of Naturalness of Voice and Empathic Responses on Enjoyment, Attitudes and Motivation for Interacting with a Voice User Interface. In: Kurosu, M. (eds) Human-Computer Interaction. Multimodal and Natural Interaction. HCII 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12182. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49062-1_17

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49062-1_17

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-49061-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-49062-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation