Cell phone conversation between old and young

Effect of speech rate conversion technology on evaluation of communication

Abstract

The speech rate conversion technology of the cell phone is designed to assist hearing of older people. This study investigated subjective evaluation of communication with and without this technology. In the experiment, 12 pairs of old and young participants engaged in cell phone conversation, and at the second of three trials, the speech rate conversion system of old user's cell phone was turned on. The analysis of evaluation of each trial showed that, with the system, old users felt easy to converse and, in contrast, young users felt hard to hear. These results are discussed regarding asymmetrical effects of communication assistance system and conversational entrainment.