Can older people remember medication reminders presented using synthetic speech?
Open accessAbstract
Reminders are often part of interventions to help older people adhere to complicated medication regimes. Computer-generated (synthetic) speech is ideal for tailoring reminders to different medication regimes. Since synthetic speech may be less intelligible than human speech, in particular under difficult listening conditions, we assessed how well older people can recall synthetic speech reminders for medications. 44 participants aged 50–80 with no cognitive impairment recalled reminders for one or four medications after a short distraction. We varied background noise, speech quality, and message design. Reminders were presented using a human voice and two synthetic voices. Data were analyzed using generalized linear mixed models. Reminder recall was satisfactory if reminders were restricted to one familiar medication, regardless of the voice used. Repeating medication names supported recall of lists of medications. We conclude that spoken reminders should build on familiar information and be integrated with other adherence support measures.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The analysis of reminder use is based on a research methodology that relies on self-reported adherence as the primary factor for the validation of medication use.
“the analysis of reminder use is based on a research methodology that relies on self-reported adherence as the primary factor for the validation of medication use [19-23].”
From Voice Assistant Reminders and the Latency of Scheduled Medication Use in Older Adults With Pain: Descriptive Feasibility Study (2021) · cites this paper as [19]
The Procedure (p. 3) identifies the study’s measure as the number of medication names participants correctly remembered after hearing a reminder. The Limitations (p. 6) also describe it as a laboratory study. It did not use self-reported adherence as the primary measure to validate medication use. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Checked by a reasoning model — may be wrong.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Hirono, N., Mori, E., Ikejiri, Y., Imamura, T., Shimomura, T., Hashimoto, M., Yamashita, H., & Ikeda, M. (1997) · PubMed · Cited by 21,010 · see citing works
Data Analysis Using Regression and Multilevel/Hierarchical Models
Gelman, A., & Hill, J. (2006) · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511790942 · Cited by 13,597 · see citing works
Update on Key Emerging Challenges in Cystic Fibrosis
Jennings, M. T., Riekert, K. A., & Boyle, M. (2014) · Medical Principles and Practice · doi:10.1159/000357646 · Cited by 3,667 · see citing works
Interventions for enhancing medication adherence
Nieuwlaat, R., Wilczynski, N., Navarro, T., Hobson, N., Jeffery, R., Keepanasseril, A., Agoritsas, T., Mistry, N., Iorio, A., Jack, S., et al. (2014) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd000011.pub4 · Cited by 2,945 · see citing works
Mioshi, E., Dawson, K., Mitchell, J., Arnold, R., & Hodges, J. R. (2006) · International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry · doi:10.1002/gps.1610 · Cited by 2,016 · see citing works
How many memory systems are there?
Tulving, E. (1985) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.40.4.385 · Cited by 1,909 · see citing works
Applied Mixed Models in Medicine
Brown, H., & Presco, R. (2000) · Technometrics · doi:10.1080/00401706.2000.10485742 · Cited by 1,699 · see citing works
Unit selection in a concatenative speech synthesis system using a large speech database
Hunt, A., & Black, A. (1996) · 1996 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing Conference Proceedings · doi:10.1109/icassp.1996.541110 · Cited by 1,508 · see citing works
Interventions for enhancing medication adherence
Haynes, R. B., Ackloo, E., Sahota, N., McDonald, H. P., & Yao, X. (2008) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd000011.pub3 · Cited by 1,244 · see citing works
Statistical parametric speech synthesis
Zen, H., Tokuda, K., & Black, A. W. (2009) · Speech Communication · doi:10.1016/j.specom.2009.04.004 · Cited by 1,202 · see citing works
Cruickshanks, K., Wiley, T. L., Tweed, T. S., Klein, B., Klein, R., Mares-Perlman, J., & Nondahl, D. (1998) · American Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a009713 · Cited by 1,187 · see citing works
National Surveillance of Emergency Department Visits for Outpatient Adverse Drug Events
Budnitz, D. S., Pollock, D. A., Weidenbach, K. N., Mendelsohn, A. B., Schroeder, T. J., & Annest, J. L. (2006) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.296.15.1858 · Cited by 891 · see citing works
A glimpsing model of speech perception in noise
Cooke, M. P. (2006) · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · doi:10.1121/1.2166600 · Cited by 736 · see citing works
The fractionation of working memory
Baddeley, A. (1996) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.93.24.13468 · Cited by 709 · see citing works
Applied Mixed Models in Medicine
Brown, H., & Prescott, R. J. (2006) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/0470023589 · Cited by 567 · see citing works
How to evaluate technologies for health behavior change in HCI research
Klasnja, P., Consolvo, S., & Pratt, W. (2011) · Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/1978942.1979396 · Cited by 414 · see citing works
Dreschler, W. A., Verschuure, H., Ludvigsen, C., & Westermann, S. E. (2001) · International Journal of Audiology · doi:10.3109/00206090109073110 · Cited by 321 · see citing works
Patients' problems with new medication for chronic conditions
Barber, N. (2004) · BMJ Quality & Safety · doi:10.1136/qshc.2003.005926 · Cited by 216 · see citing works
Revere, D., & Dunbar, P. J. (2001) · Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association · doi:10.1136/jamia.2001.0080062 · Cited by 208 · see citing works
Patients' problems with new medication for chronic conditions
Barber, N. (2004) · BMJ Quality & Safety · doi:10.1136/qhc.13.3.172 · Cited by 208 · see citing works
Dreschler, W. A., Verschuure, H., Ludvigsen, C., & Westermann, S. E. (2001) · PubMed · Cited by 179 · see citing works
Littler, T. S., & HINCHCLIFFE, R. (1970) · International Audiology · doi:10.3109/05384917009072004 · Cited by 179 · see citing works
King, S., Crumlish, J., Martin, A., & Wihlborg, L. (2009) · The Blizzard Challenge · doi:10.21437/blizzard.2009-1 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
APPLIED MIXED MODELS IN MEDICINE, 2ND ED.
Homan, S. M. (2007) · Shock · doi:10.1097/01.shk.0000278487.47934.45 · Cited by 176 · see citing works
Behind Closed Doors: Medication Storage and Disposal in the Home
Wieczorkiewicz, S. M., Kassamali, Z., & Danziger, L. H. (2013) · Annals of Pharmacotherapy · doi:10.1345/aph.1r706 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
Adverse drug events in the elderly
Cresswell, K. M., Fernando, B., McKinstry, B., & Sheikh, A. (2007) · British Medical Bulletin · doi:10.1093/bmb/ldm016 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Self-citationThe use of adherence aids by adults with diabetes: A cross-sectional survey
Littenberg, B., MacLean, C. D., & Hurowitz, L. (2006) · BMC Family Practice · doi:10.1186/1471-2296-7-1 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Johnson, W., Logie, R. H., & Brockmole, J. R. (2010) · Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.intell.2010.06.005 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Siek, K. A., Khan, D. U., Ross, S. E., Haverhals, L. M., Meyers, J., & Cali, S. R. (2011) · Journal of Medical Systems · doi:10.1007/s10916-011-9719-9 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
User-centred multimodal reminders for assistive living
McGee, M. R., Wolters, M. K., & Brewster, S. A. (2011) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/1978942.1979248 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Self-citationA Two-way Messaging System to Enhance Antiretroviral Adherence
Dunbar, P. J., Madigan, D., Grohskopf, L. A., Debra Revere, A., Woodward, J., Minstrell, J., Frick, P. A., Simoni, J. M., & Hooton, T. M. (2003) · Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association · doi:10.1197/jamia.m1047 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Ciletti, L., & Flamme, G. A. (2008) · Journal of the American Academy of Audiology · doi:10.3766/jaaa.19.9.3 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Linguistic Cues and Memory for Synthetic and Natural Speech
Paris, C. R., Thomas, M. H., Gilson, R. D., & Kincaid, J. P. (2000) · Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1518/001872000779698132 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Automated telephone answering systems and aging
Dulude, L. (2002) · Behaviour and Information Technology · doi:10.1080/0144929021000013482 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Older adult medication compliance: integrated review of randomized controlled trials.
Russell, C. L., Conn, V. S., & Jantarakupt, P. (2007) · PubMed · doi:10.5555/ajhb.2006.30.6.636 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Effects of Aging, Message Repetition, and Note-Taking on Memory for Health Information
Morrow, D. G., Leirer, V. O., Carver, L. M., Tanke, E. D., & McNally, A. D. (1999) · The Journals of Gerontology Series B · doi:10.1093/geronb/54b.6.p369 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Older Adult Medication Compliance: Integrated Review of Randomized Controlled Trials
Russell, C. L., Conn, V. S., & Jantarakupt, P. (2006) · American Journal of Health Behavior · doi:10.5993/ajhb.30.6.10 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
The CSTR/EMIME HTS System for Blizzard Challenge
Yamagishi, J., & Watts, O. (2010) · The Blizzard Challenge · doi:10.21437/blizzard.2010-10 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Short term memory demands in processing synthetic speech by old and young adults
Smither, J. A.-A. (1993) · Behaviour and Information Technology · doi:10.1080/01449299308924397 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Repetition Improves Older and Younger Adult Memory for Automated Appointment Messages
Morrow, D. G., Leirer, V. O., Carver, L. M., Tanke, E. D., & McNally, A. D. (1999) · Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1518/001872099779591268 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Saturation advertising and the repetition effect
Bekerian, D. A., & Baddeley, A. (1980) · Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior · doi:10.1016/s0022-5371(80)90476-4 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Age Differences in Identifying Words in Synthetic Speech
Roring, R. W., Hines, F. G., & Charness, N. H. (2007) · Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1518/001872007779598055 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Younger and older adults' rate performance when listening to synthetic speech
Sutton, B., King, J. M., Hux, K., & Beukelman, D. R. (1995) · Augmentative and Alternative Communication · doi:10.1080/07434619512331277269 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
Medication Schemas and Memory for Automated Telephone Messages
Morrow, D. G., Carver, L. M., Leirer, V. O., & Tanke, E. D. (2000) · Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society · doi:10.1518/001872000779698042 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Festival multisyn voices for the 2007 blizzard challenge.
Richmond, K., Strom, V., Clark, R. A., Yamagishi, J., & Fitt, S. (2007) · ERA · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Achievements of the European Working Group on Genetics of Hearing Impairment
Martini, A., & Mazzoli, M. (1999) · International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology · doi:10.1016/s0165-5876(99)00152-4 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Hardee, J. B., & Mayhorn, C. B. (2007) · Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · doi:10.1177/154193120705101819 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Sensory and Cognitive Constraints in Comprehension of Spoken Language in Adult Aging
Wingfield, A., Tun, P., McCoy, S. L., Stewart, R. A., & Cox, L. (2006) · Seminars in Hearing · doi:10.1055/s-2006-954854
Flagged first, then by citations
3 of the 52 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 5
- [8]8. King S, Karaiskos V. The Blizzard challenge 2012. Proceedings of the Blizzard Challenge Workshop; 2012.
- [9]9. King S, Karaiskos V. The Blizzard challenge 2013. Proceedings of the Blizzard Challenge Workshop; 2013.
- [10]10. Wolters MK, Campbell P, DePlacido C, et al . Making synthetic speech accessible to older people. Proceedings of the 6th ISCA Workshop on Speech Synthesis, Bonn, Germany; 2007:288-93.
- [12]12. Cruickshanks KJ, Wiley TL, Tweed TS, et al . Prevalence of hearing loss in older adults in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Am J Epidemiol 1998;148:879-86.
- [34]34. Wagener KC, Brand T, Kollmeier B. International crossvalidation of sentence intelligibility tests. Proceedings of the Conference of the European Federation of Audiological Sciences; 2007:8-10.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Use of Intelligent Voice Assistants by Older Adults with Low Technology Use
Pradhan, A., Lazar, A., & Findlater, L. (2020) · ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction · doi:10.1145/3373759 · Cited by 285 · see citing works
Synthetic versus human voices in audiobooks: The human emotional intimacy effect
Rodero, E., & Lucas, I. (2021) · New Media & Society · doi:10.1177/14614448211024142 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
Rodero, E. (2017) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2017.08.044 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Automatic Scoring of Semantic Fluency
Kim, N., Kim, J.-H., Wolters, M., MacPherson, S. E., & Park, J. C. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01020 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Self-citationChallenges in studying prosody and its pragmatic functions: Introduction toJIPAspecial issue
Niebuhr, O., & Ward, N. (2018) · Journal of the International Phonetic Association · doi:10.1017/s0025100318000014 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Memel, M., Woolverton, C. B., Bourassa, K. J., & Glisky, E. L. (2018) · Aging Neuropsychology and Cognition · doi:10.1080/13825585.2018.1521507 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Shade, M., Rector, K., & Kupzyk, K. (2021) · JMIR Formative Research · doi:10.2196/26361 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Counseling our aging population: A training program for pharmacy students on hearing loss
Pisano, M., & Miller, S. (2018) · Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning · doi:10.1016/j.cptl.2018.03.004 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Voice Familiarity in a Voice-Reminders App for Elderly Care Recipients and Their Family Caregivers
Valdivia, K. P., & Li, J. J. (2025) · IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems · doi:10.1109/thms.2025.3582259 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Prospective Memory Failure in Dementia: Understanding and Designing to Support
Ramos, L., Miller, L. A., & van den Hoven, E. (2020) · Human-computer interaction series · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-32835-1_9 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Neural coding of natural and synthetic speech.
Brown, A. (2017) · doi:10.18297/etd/2648 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Hao, Y. (2025) · CHI Extended Abstracts · doi:10.1145/3706599.3719286 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Nutrition Labels for Aging Eyes: Redesigning for Better Health Decisions
Qin, W., Chen, R., Liu, Y., & Liu, Y. (2025) · IEEE Smart World Congress (SWC) · doi:10.1109/swc65939.2025.00170
Crompton, C. J., Wolfe, K., Tullo, A., Hoffman, P., Wolters, M. K., & MacPherson, S. E. (2026) · Cognitive Processing · doi:10.1007/s10339-026-01347-3
Self-citationMore Than a Reminder: Alarms and Everyday Life
Karlgren, K., & Brown, B. A. T. (2026) · International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2026.2737541
- Authors
- Wolters, M. K., Johnson, C., Campbell, P. E., DePlacido, C. G., & McKinstry, B.
- Affiliations
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- Queen Margaret University (GB)
- Glasgow Caledonian University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Wolters, Maria K
- Venue
- Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2014-07-30
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 35-42
- ISSN
- 1067-5027 (ISSN-L)
- 1527-974X
- PMC
- PMC4433370
- OpenAlex
- W2120297659
- Cited by
- 17
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 0.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Queen Margaret University Publications Repository (Queen Margaret University) (acceptedVersion)
- ResearchOnline (Glasgow Caledonian University) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- Queen Margaret University Publications Repository (Queen Margaret University) (submittedVersion)
- Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Technische Universität Berlin
- Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/G060614/1)
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Family Practice › Medication Adherence and Compliance
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Geriatrics and Gerontology › Pharmaceutical Practices and Patient Outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Keywords
- medication reminders, synthetic speech, older adults, medication adherence, background noise, speech intelligibility, message design, medication lists
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Automation, Pharmaceutical Preparations, Female, Humans, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Middle Aged, Speech, Speech Intelligibility, Reminder Systems, Hearing Loss, Medication Adherence
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
