Deaf Users’ Preferences Among Wake-Up Approaches during Sign-Language Interaction with Personal Assistant Devices

Personal-assistant devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant are increasingly popular among consumers. Users activate these systems through some type of wake-up approach, e.g. using a wake-word “Alexa” or “Ok, Google.” Voice-based interaction poses accessibility barriers for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) users, and technologies for sign-language recognition are improving. We therefore explore wake-up interactions for DHH users for potential personal assistant devices that understand sign language commands. Interviews with DHH users (N=21) motivated the design of six wake-up approaches, and we produced video prototypes demonstrating each using a Wizard-of-Oz approach. These prototypes were evaluated in a follow-up study in which DHH users (N=12) identified factors that influenced their preference among approaches. This study contributes empirical knowledge about DHH ASL signers’ preferences and concerns with wake-up interaction, thereby providing guidance for future designers of these systems.