Towards attention monitoring of older adults with cognitive impairment during interaction with an embodied conversational agent
Open accessAbstract
Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) are virtual characters using verbal and non-verbal communication for Human-machine interaction. The aim of our research is to create an ECA-based user interface for assistive technologies targeting older adults with cognitive impairment. Our design methodology is a co-design living lab approach, collecting design guidelines through questionnaires, focus groups and user trials. In this paper, we report on the results of the first phase of this iterative design process. We developed Louise, a semi-automatic ECA prototype that aims to compensate, through attention monitoring, for a user's attentional disorders by performing autonomous prompting, i.e., calling the user to regain his or her attention in case he or she got distracted. We evaluated the performance of Louise with a group of experts in assistive technologies and collected their feedback. Louise's simple attention estimator is more than 80% accurate. The system got quite positive reviews from users.
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In the last 10 years, few studies have addressed the use of ECAs among older adults with dementia.
“In fact, in the last 10 years, few studies have addressed the use of ECAs among older adults with dementia.”
In the last 10 years, few studies have addressed the use of ECAs among older adults with dementia.
“In fact, in the last 10 years, few studies have addressed the use of ECAs among older adults with dementia.”
This study mapped how the readiness level of ECA-based interventions grew across the years, shifting from a display on standard television sets and computer screens to mobile stand-alone solutions such as Anne.
“From a technical point of view, this study mapped how the readiness level of ECA-based interventions grew across the years, shifting from a display on standard television sets [7] and computer screens [8-12] to mobile stand-alone solutions such as in the specific case of Anne.”
This study mapped how the readiness level of ECA-based interventions grew across the years, shifting from a display on standard television sets and computer screens to mobile stand-alone solutions such as Anne.
“From a technical point of view, this study mapped how the readiness level of ECA-based interventions grew across the years, shifting from a display on standard television sets [7] and computer screens [8-12] to mobile stand-alone solutions such as in the specific case of Anne.”
The quality of automatic speech recognition and synthesis is still a technical issue and has room for improvement, whereas touch screen modality is almost stable and positively used by people living with dementia.
“Unfortunately, our study confirms that the quality of automatic speech recognition and synthesis is still a technical issue and has room for improvement [7-11], whereas touch screen modality is almost stable and positively used by people living with dementia [3,25,26].”
This framework of 4 weeks of interaction between 20 seniors with dementia and the agent Anne in a home setting is rare in ECA research, which mainly comprises studies on short-term interaction in a controlled environment and smaller sample size enrollment.
“This framework is rare in ECA research, which mainly comprises studies on short-term interaction in a controlled environment [13] and smaller sample size enrollment [7-12].”
This framework of 4 weeks of interaction between 20 seniors with dementia and the agent Anne in a home setting is rare in ECA research, which mainly comprises studies on short-term interaction in a controlled environment and smaller sample size enrollment.
“This framework is rare in ECA research, which mainly comprises studies on short-term interaction in a controlled environment [13] and smaller sample size enrollment [7-12].”
The attention estimation method and the ECA prototype were developed and validated with healthy younger adults in a previous work.
“The attention estimation method and the ECA prototype were developed and validated with healthy younger adults in a previous work [5].”
From Field evaluation with cognitively-impaired older adults of attention management in the Embodied Conversational Agent Louise (2016) · cites this paper as [5]
In previous work, the attention estimation algorithm showed over 80% accuracy with younger adults who are assistive technology experts.
“In previous work [5], this attention estimation algorithm was evaluated with younger adults, who are assistive technology experts. The method showed over 80% accuracy with this group.”
From Field evaluation with cognitively-impaired older adults of attention management in the Embodied Conversational Agent Louise (2016) · cites this paper as [5]
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- Authors
- Wargnier, P., Malaise, A., Jacquemot, J., Benveniste, S., Jouvelot, P., Pino, M., & Rigaud, A.-S.
- Affiliations
- Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR)
- Hôpital Cochin (FR)
- Venue
- 2015 3rd IEEE VR International Workshop on Virtual and Augmented Assistive Technology (VAAT)
- Publisher
- IEEE
- Published
- 2015-03
- Pages
- 23-28
- OpenAlex
- W1480447586
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 1.76
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Social Sciences › Demography › Technology Use by Older Adults
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Keywords
- embodied conversational agents, attention monitoring, older adults, cognitive impairment, assistive technology, human-machine interaction, attention estimation, co-design, living labs, user interface design
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