Alexa, Tell Me a Joke!: "Voice Interfaces are Truly Inclusive"

Abstract

Speech and voice interaction is often hailed as a natural form of interaction and thus more inclusive for a larger portion of users. But, how accurate is this claim? In this panel, we challenge existing assumptions that voice and speech interaction is inclusive of diverse users. The goal of this panel is to bring together the broad HCI community to discuss the state of voice interaction for marginalized and vulnerable populations, how inclusive design is considered (or neglected) in current voice interaction design practice, and how to move forward when it comes to designing voice interaction for inclusion and diversity. In particular, we plan to center the discussion on older adults as a representative group of digitally-marginalized populations, especially given that voice interfaces are marketed towards this group, yet often fail to properly include this population in the design of such interfaces.