Does Using Voice Authentication in Multimodal Systems Correlate With Increased Speech Interaction During Non-critical Routine Tasks?

Abstract

Multimodal systems offer their functionalities through multiple communication channels. A messenger application may take either keyboard or voice input, and present incoming messages as text or audio output. This allows the users to communicate with their devices using the modality that best suits their context and personal preference. Authentication is often the first interaction with an application. The users' login behavior can thus be used to immediately adapt the communication channel to their preferences. Yet given the sensitive nature of authentication, this interaction may not be representative for the user's inclination to use speech input in non-critical routine tasks. In this paper, we test whether the interactions during authentication differ from non-critical routine tasks in a smart home application. Our findings indicate that, even in such a private space, the authentication behavior does not correlate with the use, nor with the perceived usability of speech input during non-critical task. We further find that short interactions with the system are not indicative of the user's attitude towards audio output, independent of whether authentication or non-critical tasks are performed. Since security concerns are minmized in the secure environment of private spaces, our findings can be generalized to other contexts where security threats are even more apparent.