Voice speed and interaction style may determine whether a user sees a digital assistant like Alexa or Siri as a helpful partner or something to control, according to a team led by Penn State researchers. The findings reveal insights into the parasocial, or one-sided, relationships that people can form with digital assistants, according to the researchers.
Christenson and his colleagues conducted three experiments to measure how changing the voice speed and interaction style of a digital assistant affected a user's likelihood to use and trust the device. In the first study, they asked 753 participants to use a digital assistant to help them create a personal budget. The digital assistant recited a monological, or one-way, script at either a slow, moderate or fast pace.
In the third study, 252 participants used an Amazon Echo to find a dessert recipe. The digital assistant spoke at either a slow, moderate or fast pace and in a monological or dialogical style. In addition to asking how likely the participants would be to use the device to order recipe ingredients, the researchers asked the participants if they saw Alexa as more of a servant or partner and more like a robot or a human.