Usability of a Hands-Free Voice Input Interface for Ecological Momentary Assessment

摘要

Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) is a data collection method that consists of asking individuals to answer questions pertaining to their behavior, feelings, and experiences in everyday life. While EMA provides benefits compared to retrospective self-reports, the frequency of prompts throughout the day can be burdensome. Leveraging advances in speech recognition and the popularity of conversational assistants, we study the usability of an EMA interface specifically aimed at minimizing the interruption burden caused by EMA. The interface delivers prompts verbally and captures responses with a hands-free voice-based interface, effectively eliminating the need for participants to shift their attention away from a primary task to interact with a mobile phone or smartwatch. In a two-week qualitative study with 13 participants, 69.2% of them reported that not much effort was required to answer prompts with the interface, and 76.9% agreed that the interface helped them integrate EMA into the rhythm of daily life.