Elderly Users' Interaction with Conversational Agent

Abstract

Exploring how users behave when they interact with a conversational agent has been a popular research topic recently. However, very few studies have focused on the unique features of old people's interaction with an agent. In this paper, we report the results of interviews conducted with 19 participants, with ages comprised between 30 and 70 years. The interviews were conducted after the participants used the conversational agent, "Clova" for two weeks. During the interview, the subjects were asked about the frequently used functions and the satisfying and unsatisfying aspects of the agent. In this study, the participants with ages of 50 years or older were classified as older adults, while those under the age of 50 were classified as younger adults. Then we compared the characteristics of these two user groups by conducting a text analysis of the interview script. Our finding indicated that, older adults tended to personify the agent more by using polite words such as 'Grateful', while younger adults tended to consider it as a tool by placing more importance on its convenience; Also, older adults perceived the music function as having a high importance compared to the younger adults.