research-article

Alexa as Coach: Leveraging Smart Speakers to Build Social Agents that Reduce Public Speaking Anxiety

Authors:

Saeed Abdullah,

S. Shyam SundarAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '20: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 1 - 13

https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376561

Published: 23 April 2020 Publication History

Abstract

Public speaking anxiety is one of the most common social phobias. We explore the feasibility of using a conversational agent to reduce this anxiety. We developed a public-speaking tutor on the Amazon Alexa platform that enables users to engage in cognitive reconstruction exercises. We also investigated how the sociability of the agent might affect its performance as a tutor. A user study of 53 college students with fear of public speaking showed that the interaction with the agent served to assuage pre-speech state anxiety. Agent sociability improved the sense of interpersonal closeness, which was associated with lower pre-speech anxiety. Moreover, sociability of the agent increased participants' satisfaction and their willingness to continue engagement. Our findings, thus, have implications not only for addressing public speaking anxiety in a scalable way but also for the design of future conversational agents using smart speaker platforms.

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Cited By

Desai SDubiel MLeiva L(2024)Examining Humanness as a Metaphor to Design Voice User InterfacesProceedings of the 6th ACM Conference on Conversational User Interfaces10.1145/3640794.3665535(1-15)Online publication date: 8-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3640794.3665535
Chin JDesai SLin SMejia S(2024)Like My Aunt Dorothy: Effects of Conversational Styles on Perceptions, Acceptance and Metaphorical Descriptions of Voice Assistants during Later AdulthoodProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36373658:CSCW1(1-21)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637365
Petsolari MIbrahim SSlovak P(2024)Socio-technical Imaginaries: Envisioning and Understanding AI Parenting Supports through Design FictionProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642619(1-27)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642619
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Index Terms

Alexa as Coach: Leveraging Smart Speakers to Build Social Agents that Reduce Public Speaking Anxiety
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. HCI design and evaluation methods
      1. Usability testing

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cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '20: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2020

10688 pages

ISBN:9781450367080

DOI:10.1145/3313831

General Chairs:
Regina Bernhaupt
Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands
,
Florian 'Floyd' Mueller
Monash University, Australia
,
David Verweij
Newcastle University, UK
,
Josh Andres
RMIT, Australia
,
Program Chairs:
Joanna McGrenere
University of British Columbia, Canada
,
Andy Cockburn
University of Canterbury, New Zealand
,
Ignacio Avellino
University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA
,
Alix Goguey
Grenoble Alpes University, France
,
Pernille Bjørn
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
,
Shengdong (Shen) Zhao
National University of Singapore, Singapore
,
Briane Paul Samson
Future University Hakodate, Japan & De La Salle University, Philippines
,
Rafal Kocielnik
University of Washington, USA

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Published: 23 April 2020

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Cited By

Desai SDubiel MLeiva L(2024)Examining Humanness as a Metaphor to Design Voice User InterfacesProceedings of the 6th ACM Conference on Conversational User Interfaces10.1145/3640794.3665535(1-15)Online publication date: 8-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3640794.3665535
Chin JDesai SLin SMejia S(2024)Like My Aunt Dorothy: Effects of Conversational Styles on Perceptions, Acceptance and Metaphorical Descriptions of Voice Assistants during Later AdulthoodProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36373658:CSCW1(1-21)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637365
Petsolari MIbrahim SSlovak P(2024)Socio-technical Imaginaries: Envisioning and Understanding AI Parenting Supports through Design FictionProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642619(1-27)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642619
Hosseini SQuan JDeng XMiyake YNozawa T(2024)Avatar-Based Feedback in Job Interview Training Impacts Action Identities and AnxietyIEEE Transactions on Affective Computing10.1109/TAFFC.2024.336383515:3(1608-1620)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TAFFC.2024.3363835
Ma XHuo Y(2024)White Elephant or Happiness Goodies? The Effect of User Personality on the Perception of Digital Companionship of Smart SpeakerInternational Journal of Human–Computer Interaction10.1080/10447318.2024.230355441:1(627-640)Online publication date: 22-Jan-2024
https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2024.2303554
Rasouli SGhafurian MNilsen EDautenhahn K(2024)University Students’ Opinions on Using Intelligent Agents to Cope with Stress and Anxiety in Social SituationsComputers in Human Behavior10.1016/j.chb.2023.108072153:COnline publication date: 12-Apr-2024
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Dol Avan Strien TVelthuijsen Hvan Gemert-Pijnen LBode C(2023)Preferences for coaching strategies in a personalized virtual coach for emotional eaters: an explorative studyFrontiers in Psychology10.3389/fpsyg.2023.126022914Online publication date: 16-Nov-2023
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González-Lozoya SMeza-Kubo VDominguez-Rodriguez ARamírez-Fernández CBautista-Valerio EMoreyra-Jiménez LMorán A(2023)An internet-based self-applied rat phobia treatment using a Virtual Therapy Assistant: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trialPLOS ONE10.1371/journal.pone.028133818:2(e0281338)Online publication date: 15-Feb-2023
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Mendu SDoyle Fosco SLanza SAbdullah S(2023)Designing voice interfaces to support mindfulness-based pain managementDIGITAL HEALTH10.1177/205520762312044189Online publication date: 19-Oct-2023
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Aggarwal TGoncalves J(2023)Towards Empathetically Responsive Voice AssistantsProceedings of the 35th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference10.1145/3638380.3638398(669-678)Online publication date: 2-Dec-2023
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