Investigating Users' Perceptions of Light Behaviors in Smart-Speakers
Sahiti Kunchay, Shan Wang, Saeed Abdullah · 2019
Light expressions can communicate and convey information in an unobtrusive manner. Smart-speakers employ light behaviors to indicate a wide range of device states as well as notifying users. However, no prior work has looked into the efficacy of these light behaviors in smart-speakers. That is, can users distinguish and understand information states associated with different light behaviors in smart-speakers? In this work, we aim to address this gap by investigating whether users can accurately identify light behaviors in Amazon Echo and Google Home devices. For this, we conducted an MTurk survey with 243 smart-speaker owners. Our findings reveal that only 34% of the light behaviors are correctly recognized by users on average. Moreover, we found that users find it easier to recognize light behaviors in Amazon Echo than in Google Home devices. These findings show a clear need for rethinking the design of light behaviors in smart-speakers. We also explored novel light behaviors that users might find useful but are not supported by current devices including expressing sentiment and privacy notifications.