AVOCUS: A Voice Customization System for Online Personas
Hyeon Jeong Byeon, Seungjin Ha, Uran Oh · 2023
Many digital applications offer avatar customization options, positively affecting user experience. However, the adoption of auditory aspects in avatar customization has often been neglected and may have been understudied for its potential. Inspired by prior research that uncovers end-user’s demands for voice customization, we seek to apply the identified implications into practice and discover end-user’s voice preferences and behavior towards voice customization systems. To this end, we designed and deployed AVOCUS, a web application that enables users to search for specific voices or manipulate voice-related parameters to generate a voice similar to a target voice. Our findings suggest that (1) searching for specific voice using hashtags were perceived to be easy, (2) customized voices generated from voice reflection and voice parameter control functions had high satisfaction, and (3) participants tend to reflect the features of their desired voices when customizing their own voice.