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Proceedings/Recueil Des Communications Année : 2023

Engaging with an embodied conversational agent in a computerized cognitive training: an acceptability study with the elderly

Joan Fruitet
Mélodie Fouillen
Valentine Facque
Stéphanie de Chalvron
Franck Tarpin-Bernard

Résumé

Neurodegenerative diseases have become increasingly prevalent, particularly among the elderly population, with conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) affecting millions of individuals in France. The incidence of neurodegenerative disorders has been increasing over the last decades due to the aging population and the lack of curative treatments. One critical consequence of this growing issue is the substantial demand for speech therapy services, as cognitive impairments are common symptoms of these conditions. However, the availability of trained speech therapists fails to meet the rising needs, leading to lengthy waiting times for appointments. This situation causes a severe public health problem, as the lack of timely interventions can exacerbate the patients' condition, impacting their quality of life. In this context, the integration of agents as virtual speech therapy assistants emerges as a potential solution to alleviate the strain on the existing healthcare system and provide timely support to elderly individuals with neurodegenerative disorders. Virtual agents can be designed to deliver personalized and interactive therapy sessions tailored to the specific needs of each patient. By leveraging artificial intelligence and natural language processing technologies, these embodied conversational agents (ECA) can engage in conversations with patients, guide them through exercises, and monitor their progress over time, in the comfort of their own homes at their preferred schedule. However, while ECAassisted therapy shows promise, its effectiveness and acceptance among the elderly population need further investigation. To address this crucial aspect, an acceptability study is being conducted to assess the feasibility and user satisfaction with autonomous avatar-assisted therapy, in comparison to a previous study, conducted by the same team, with human-directed avatar-assisted therapy in the context of elderly individuals. The current study aims to evaluate the willingness of elderly patients to incorporate the avatar-assisted therapy into their daily care routine and explore factors influencing their acceptance or reluctance towards the technology. By gathering feedback, from participants through questionnaires and from observers through qualitative data, we sought to understand their perceptions regarding the utility, usability, and overall experience with the avatar-assisted therapy. The insights gained from this study will be instrumental in refining the design of the technology, tailoring it to better suit the preferences and capabilities of elderly patients, and informing decision-making for its potential integration as a complementary solution in neurodegenerative disorder care programs. Ultimately, this research aims to explore how avatar-assisted therapy may address speech therapy shortages and enhance the well-being and autonomy of elderly individuals with neurodegenerative conditions.
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Dates et versions

hal-04552594 , version 1 (19-04-2024)

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Joan Fruitet, Mélodie Fouillen, Valentine Facque, Hanna Chainay, Stéphanie de Chalvron, et al.. Engaging with an embodied conversational agent in a computerized cognitive training: an acceptability study with the elderly. ICMI '23: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MULTIMODAL INTERACTION, ACM, pp.359-362, 2023, ⟨10.1145/3610661.3616130⟩. ⟨hal-04552594⟩

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