Research On VUI Design Of Smart Speakers For Empty Nest Seniors

With the deepening of aging society and the change of social family structure,the number of empty-nest elderly has been increasing.In the “Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan” issued by the State Council,it was clearly stated that it is necessary to provide diversified services for the elderly care industry.Under the guidance of policies,intelligent products also need to provide services that are suitable for the elderly,not just for young people.Along with the changing age structure of the population and family structure as well as multiple stimulus of economy,technology and policy,intelligentized elderly care services have become a trend.Specifically,the voice interaction function with multiple advantages has become an important interactive way for empty-nest elderly people to start their intelligent life.Therefore,it is significant to make intelligent speakers suitable for the empty-nester,dig into their real-life status,needs and preferences,and understand their real status when they are using intelligent devices in the design of intelligent speakers VUI(Voice Users Interface).This study selects Xiao Ai,an intelligent speaker by Xiaomi as a representative of smart speakers.It has good sales,diversified on-limit functions,and excellent user experience.Focusing on the needs,preferences,and problems of the empty nest elderly when they use the intelligent speakers,this study aims at providing services that meet their real needs and easy-to-use voice interaction experiences.Firstly,through literature review and a survey of the elderly’s consumption trends,the physiological and psychological conditions of the empty-nest elderly are summarized,and the consumption changes of the elderly and the development status of smart speakers are discussed.By sorting out the basic theory of VUI design,it is found that compared with the graphical user interface,the voice user interface has obvious advantages in the design of intelligent devices for empty nesters.Secondly,through the investigation in real life conditions of the empty-nest elderly,it was found that the intelligent speakers can provide functions to solve daily life problems,and they also meet their needs of companionship to a certain extent.Thirdly,on the basis of user-centered idea and referring to "Designing Voice User Interface: Principles of Conversational experience" proposed by Cathy Pearl and the Amazon Alexa Voice Design Guide,a VUI design strategy for the empty nesters’ intelligent speaker is proposed.By using Xiaoai’s open platform,the design redefines the virtual character of intelligent speakers,and develops four voice skills: body information collection,safety and health knowledge Q&A,intelligent recording,and health examination reminders.Finally,the empty nest elderly experienced the intelligent speaker and helped redesign VUI.The memory level of wake up words,the completion of speech skills,device initiative,and subjective satisfaction are tested.The satisfactory test results were obtained and the availabilities of the design were verifiedConclusively,“Xiao Ai,Xiao Ai” is easier for the empty nest elderly to remember than “Classmate Xiao Ai” as the wake up word of the speaker.In terms of virtual character settings,sweet female voices are the most favorable.The slowing of speech speed makes it easier for the empty nest elderly to catch up with the voice information,and improving the initiative of the device can reduce users’ cognitive load.In regard to voice skills design,functions with simple logic flow and guided conversations are well accomplished,while functions with wide coverage of specialized knowledge is less well accomplished.