@misc{10481/90771,
year = {2023},
month = {12},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10481/90771},
abstract = {Based on a previous investigation, a quantitative study aimed to identify user’ preferences towards four synthetic voices of two
different quality levels (classified through the sophistication of the synthesizer: low vs. high) is proposed. The voices
administered to participants were developed considering two main aspects: the voice quality (high/low) and their gender
(male/female). 182 unpaid participants were recruited for the study, divided in four groups according to their age, and
therefore classified as adolescents, young adults, middle-aged, and seniors. To collect data regarding each voice, randomly
audited by participants, the shortened version of the Virtual Agent Voice Acceptance Questionnaire (VAVAQ) was exploited.
Outcomes of the previous study revealed that the voices of high quality, regardless of their gender, received a higher acclaim by
all participants examined rather than the corresponding two voices assessed as lower quality. Conversely, findings of the
current study suggest that the four new groups of participants involved agreed in showing their strong preference towards the
high-quality voice gendered as female compared to all the other considered voices. Regarding the two voices gendered as male,
the high-quality one was considered as more original and capable to arouse positive emotional states than the low-quality one.
Moreover, the high-quality male voice was judged as more natural than the female low-quality one. Results provide some
insights for future directions in the user experience and design field.},
organization = {European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation
programme under grant agreement N.769872
(EMPATHIC) and N. 823907 (MENHIR)},
organization = {Project SIROBOTICS that received funding from Ministero dell’Istruzione,
dell ‘Università, e della Ricerca (MIUR), PNR
2015-2020, D.D. 1735/2017},
organization = {Project ANDROIDS
that received funding from Università della Campania “Luigi
Vanvitelli” inside the programme V:ALERE 2019, funded
with D.R. 906/2019},
organization = {Project SALICE that
received funding from Università della Campania “Luigi
Vanvitelli” inside the programme Giovani Ricercatori (DR
509/2022), funded with DR 834/2022},
publisher = {Hindawi},
title = {A Synthetic Voice for an Assistive Conversational Agent: A Survey to Discover Italian Preferences regarding Synthetic Voice’s Gender and Quality Level},
doi = {10.1155/2023/8858268},
author = {Cuciniello, Marialucia and Amorese, Terry and Greco, Claudia and Callejas Carrión, Zoraida and Vogel, Carl and Cordasco, Gennaro and Esposito, Anna},
}