Usability assessment of interaction management support in LOUISE, an ECA-based user interface for elders with cognitive impairment

Embodied conversational agents (ECA) are possible enablers of assistive technologies, in particular for older adults withcognitive impairment. Yet, dedicated interaction management techniques addressing the specificities of this public are needed. OBJECTIVES: We assess whether the interaction management framework of the LOUISE (Lovely User Interface for Servicing Elders) ECA has the potential to overcome the user interface constraints linked to cognitive impairment.METHODS: LOUISE supports key target-specific features: personalization; attention management; context reminders; image and video displays; a conversation manager for task-oriented interactions; and the foundations for a domain-specific XML-based language for task-oriented assistive scenarios. usability and acceptance were evaluated at the Broca geriatric hospital in Paris. with a group of 14 older adults with either mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer’s disease (AD) through four simple but realistic assistive scenarios: drinking, taking medicine, measuring blood pressure and choosing the lunch menu. RESULTS: Most of our participants were able to interact with the ECA, succeeded in completing the proposed tasks and enjoyed our design. CONCLUSION: Thefield usability evaluation of LOUISE’s interaction management framework suggests that this suite of interaction techniques can be effective in enabling interfaces for users with MCI or AD.