Chapter 10 - Voice-based conversational agents for sensing and support: Examples from academia and industry

Abstract

While mental and substance use disorders are worryingly prevalent worldwide, voice-based conversational agents (VCAs) are penetrating our homes and are increasingly used for health-related purposes. As voice interaction is less effortful and more accessible than visual interfaces, VCAs may constitute a scalable solution for the delivery of health interventions. In particular, VCAs may respond to a requenst for support, as well as proactively providing it to the user. Also, voice interaction may be used to timely sense critical health states by gathering questionnaire data, as well as passively collecting acoustic data streams associated with health-related variables. In this chapter, we review what is currently available for individuals with mental and substance use disorders through the lens of a sensing-and-support paradigm. In particular, we present examples of VCAs and voice technology from academia and industry, and identify current capabilities and potentials for the management of mental and substance use disorders. Furthermore, we seek to illustrate the implementation gaps in comparison to the sensing-and-support paradigm and discuss the possible reasons for such gaps (i.e., implementation, cost, data management, and privacy concerns).