Abstract
The perception of feeling lonely is an influential factor in determining quality of life among aging adults. As the US Census Bureau projects that the number of Americans ages 65 and older will double by 2060, reducing loneliness is imperative. Personal voice assistants (PVAs) such as Amazon's Echo offer the ease-of-use of voice control with a friendly, helpful artificial intelligence. This study aimed to understand the influence of a PVA on loneliness reduction among adults of advanced ages, i.e., 75+, and explore anthropomorphism as a potential underlying mechanism. Participants (N = 16) ages 75 or older used an Amazon Echo PVA for 8 weeks in an independent living facility in the Midwest. Surveys were used to collect information about perceived loneliness, and PVA interaction data was recorded and analyzed. Participants consistently exceeded the required daily interactions. As hypothesized, after the first 4 weeks of the intervention, aging adults reported significantly lower loneliness (baseline mean = 2.22, SD = 0.42; week 4 mean = 1.99, SD = 0.45, Z = −2.45, and p = 0.01). Four dominant anthropomorphic themes emerged after thematic analysis of the entire 8 weeks' PVA interaction data (Cohen's Kappa = 0.92): (1) greetings (user-initiated, friendly phrases); (2) comments/questions (user-initiated, second-person pronoun), (3) polite interactions (user-initiated, direct-name friendly requests), (4) reaction (user response to Alexa). Relational greetings predicted loneliness reductions in the first 4 weeks and baseline loneliness predicted relational greetings with the PVA during the entire 8 weeks, suggesting that anthropomorphization of PVAs may play a role in mitigating loneliness in aging adults.
Highlights
One of the most influential factors in determining quality of life among aging adults is the perception of feeling lonely [1, 2]
Building on prior empirical studies of Personal voice assistants (PVAs) and aging adults which primarily focus on exploratory user experience such as how aging adults use PVAs [16, 33, 34] and how the PVAs provide companionship [35, 36], the current study aimed to investigate the impact of such PVA interactions on anthropomorphization and loneliness reduction
We found that baseline loneliness was the primary predictor to initiate friendly phrases to greet the PVA device during the 8 weeks of the intervention, suggesting that the lonelier an aging adult feels, the more likely she/he is going to treat PVAs as human, in anthropomorphic ways
Summary
One of the most influential factors in determining quality of life among aging adults is the perception of feeling lonely [1, 2]. Loneliness refers to perceived isolation or the sense of lacking companionship, and the negative feelings that can arise from not having a companion or emotional support, or a perceived lack of wider social networks [3,4,5]. The experience of loneliness has Reducing Loneliness Among Aging Adults been associated with reduced opportunities for companionship, with older adults experiencing consequential social and emotional loneliness [6]. Loneliness reduction is a pathway to improve aging adults’ perceived life quality [2]. When mitigated through technology such as Internet use, older adults reported improved quality of life [10]. As the number of Americans ages 65 and older is projected to nearly double by 2060, to 95 million, the ability to reduce feelings of loneliness among aging adults in a cost effective, efficient manner is increasingly important [11]
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