"It's Kind of Like Code-Switching": Black Older Adults' Experiences with a Voice Assistant for Health Information Seeking

Christina N. Harrington, Radhika Garg, Amanda Woodward, Dimitri Williams

Research output: Chapter in Book/Entry/PoemConference contribution

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

Black older adults from lower socioeconomic environments are often neglected in health technology interventions. Voice assistants have a potential to make healthcare more accessible to older adults, yet, little is known about their experiences with this type of health information seeking, especially Black older adults. Through a three-phase exploratory study, we explored health information seeking with 30 Black older adults in lower-income environments to understand how they ask health-related questions, and their perceptions of the Google Home being used for that purpose. Through our analysis, we identified the health information needs and common search topics, and discussed the communication breakdowns and types of repair performed. We contribute an understanding of cultural code-switching that has to be done by these older adults when interacting with voice assistants, and the importance of such phenomenon when designing for historically excluded groups.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationCHI 2022 - Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)9781450391573
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 29 2022
Event2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2022 - Virtual, Online, United States
Duration: Apr 30 2022May 5 2022

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2022
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityVirtual, Online
Period4/30/225/5/22

Keywords

  • code-switching
  • cultural relevance
  • health information seeking
  • identity
  • older adults
  • race
  • speech recognition
  • voice assistants

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Software
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

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