Artificial intelligence is becoming more and more widespread in our everyday life. Although these technologies primarily help us, they can sometimes be used in negative ways, such as fraudulent or fraudulent calls, so we need to be able to recognize them.
According to a recent Baycrest study, older people tend to be less able than their younger counterparts to distinguish between computer-generated (AI) speech and human speech.
“Findings from this study on computer-generated AI speech suggest that older adults may be at higher risk of being abused,” says Dr. Bjorn Herrmann, Baycrest Canada Research Chair in Auditory Aging, a scientist at Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute. author of this study. “While this area of ​​research is still in its infancy, further findings could lead to the development of training programs for older adults to help them overcome these challenges.”
In this study, the first to examine AI speech recognition in older adults, younger (~30 years) and older (~60 years) adults listened to sentences spoken by 10 different human speakers (five male, five female) and sentences produced by 10 AI voices (5 male, 5 female). In one experiment, participants were asked how natural they found human and AI voices to be. In another, they were asked to determine whether a sentence was spoken by a human or an AI voice.
The results showed that compared to younger adults, older adults perceived AI speech as more natural and were less able to correctly identify when the speech was computer generated.
AI speech recognition for adults
The reasons for this remain unclear and are the subject of subsequent research by Dr. Herrmann and his team. Although they ruled out hearing loss and familiarity with AI technology as factors, it could be related to older adults’ reduced ability to recognize different emotions in speech.
“As we age, we seem to pay more attention to the actual words in speech than to the rhythm and intonation of the speech when trying to get information about the emotions being communicated,” says Dr. Herrmann. “It could be that AI speech recognition relies on the processing of rhythm and intonation rather than words, which in turn could explain the reduced ability of older adults to identify AI speech.”
In addition to aiding the development of AI-related training programs, the results of this and future studies could help inform older adults about interactive AI technology. This kind of technology often relies on speech AI and has increasing applicability in the medical, long-term and other support spaces for older adults. For example, AI therapy robots can be used to comfort and calm individuals who suffer from restlessness as a result of dementia.
By better understanding how older adults perceive AI speech, we can ensure that AI technologies effectively meet their needs, ultimately improving their quality of life and helping them lead meaningful, inspired and fulfilled lives.
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