The Attention Kitchen: Comparing Modalities for Smart Home Notifications in a Cooking Scenario

A steadily increasing number of notifications, auditory, visual or ambient, competes for the user’s attention. Frequent unsuitable notifications can lead to a breakdown in efficiency and increase error rates. This paper compares the effectiveness, disruptiveness, and user experience of three different notification modalities: On-Object, ambient On-Environment, and On-Smartphone notifications. In a user study with 24 participants, we evaluate the three notification modalities during a cooking task where users were frequently exposed to notifications. Our results show that ambient On-Environment notifications minimize the time in which users can resume their primary task. Ambient On-Environment notifications were also perceived as least disrupting compared to the other two notification modalities. We discuss the design requirements for non-disruptive notifications in smart home environments and conclude with future strategies for notifying users at different urgency levels.