Making voice assistants accessible for older patients

Voice assistants specified arsenic Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri person tremendous imaginable to assistance radical negociate their wellness arsenic they age. Using these eye- and hands-free tools, patients could marque appointments, confer with clinicians, person medicine reminders and execute different tasks. Unfortunately, existent devices person not been designed with older patients, oregon adjacent healthcare, successful mind.

Now, researchers astatine UC San Diego's Qualcomm Institute, the Human-centered eXtended Intelligence Research Lab and different programs successful UC San Diego's Computer Science and Engineering Department and Department of Medicine, are taking a hard look astatine whether older adults are utilizing (or not using) this exertion and however it tin beryllium improved. Their task is called Voice Assistant for Quality of Life and Healthcare Improvement successful Aging Populations, oregon VOLI, and the dependable adjunct that resulted is being tested successful homes opening this period arsenic portion of a feasibility study.

"Voice assistants person go ubiquitous and could truly amended wellbeing for older adults," said VOLI main researcher Emilia Farcas, an adjunct probe idiosyncratic astatine the Qualcomm Institute. "There are galore services and products retired there, but their adoption is truly questionable due to the fact that you can't conscionable make something, enactment it retired determination and anticipation it volition beryllium used."

Technological barriers

Farcas, co-investigator Nadir Weibel, a Computer Science and Engineering prof who heads the Human-centered eXtended Intelligence Research Lab, and colleagues person been assessing the galore barriers that trim effectiveness. In a insubstantial presented astatine the 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference connected Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS'21), the squad explored the antithetic issues older radical look erstwhile utilizing dependable assistants.

"We tried to link to older adults' existent lives," said Computer Science and Engineering Ph.D. pupil Chen Chen, archetypal writer connected the paper. "We wanted to pinpoint their regular beingness and healthcare absorption routines—contacting doctors, scheduling appointments, signaling their captious signs and submitting them done MyChart (UC San Diego's physics wellness grounds system)—and we identified immoderate of the problems they are facing."

The squad interviewed 16 radical ages 68 to 90, 2 geriatricians and 3 nurses to recognize however virtual assistants tin beryllium utile and wherever they autumn short. They recovered existent devices are poorly designed to negociate astir healthcare needs.

Tracking medicine compliance is conscionable 1 example. Sometimes patients hide to instrumentality their medicines and compound the occupation by taking time-sensitive medications whenever they remember, which tin pb to atrocious results. Throughout the study, patients described the functions they wanted.

"I person to measurement myself each time and instrumentality my humor unit and my sweetener and support each that down," said 1 survey participant. "And my person said it would beryllium a large happening for maine to beryllium capable to person Alexa support that accusation and past conscionable beryllium capable to transportation to MyChart alternatively of maine having that typed each successful for the doctors."

New designs, caller devices

The VOLI squad envisions devices that are much user-friendly and utile to amended enactment older patients. Health-focused dependable assistants could forestall emergency country visits and hospitalizations, mostly amended prime of beingness and enactment arsenic other sets of eyes and ears for clinicians and acrophobic household members.

"We request to deliberation astir these systems from a much holistic perspective," said Weibel. "The diligent whitethorn beryllium the lone 1 really talking to the device, but we indispensable besides see clinicians and family. What are their needs and however tin we enactment them?"

The radical is customized designing its ain voice assistants and expect placing them successful households this month. This feasibility survey volition measure the technology's effectiveness and supply feedback to continuously refine it. VOLI volition initially enroll 10 participants and past standard up to 50. Each subordinate volition person 2 devices to trial adjunct efficacy some with and without a screen.

"This volition beryllium an iterative project, during which we trial caller designs successful patients' homes and spot however they work," said Farcas. "We tin past usage that accusation to redesign the devices to marque them much effectual and springiness patients, doctors and household members amended value.

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More information: Chen Chen et al, Understanding Barriers and Design Opportunities to Improve Healthcare and QOL for Older Adults done Voice Assistants, The 23rd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference connected Computers and Accessibility (2021). DOI: 10.1145/3441852.3471218