The voice quality of pedagogical agent impacts learning and agent perceptions.

Background: The voices virtual on‐screen characters use has been shown to impact learning and perception outcomes. Recent replication research on these voices showed that synthetic voices were not a detriment if produced by a high‐quality engine with clear articulation. The current manuscript examin...

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Publicado en:Journal of Computer Assisted Learning Vol. 40; no. 5; pp. 2278 - 2292
Autores principales: Siegle, Robert F., Craig, Scotty D.
Formato: research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: Wiley-Blackwell Oct2024
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Oct2024
      vid: 40
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      pub: Wiley-Blackwell
      place: Malden, Massachusetts
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        10.1111/jcal.13027
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        atl: The voice quality of pedagogical agent impacts learning and agent perceptions.
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        au:
          Siegle, Robert F.
          Craig, Scotty D.
        affil: Human Systems Engineering, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, Arizona State University, Mesa Arizona, , USA
      sug:
        subj:
          Voice Quality Evaluation
          Learning Methods
          Educational Technology
          User-Computer Interface
          Speech Acoustics
          Perception
          Human
          Male
          Female
          Adolescence
          Adult
          Middle Age
          Aged
          Aged, 80 and Over
          United States
          Computer-Assisted Instruction
          Hearing Physiology
          Multimedia Education
          Outcomes of Education
          Crowdsourcing
          Transfer (Psychology)
          Avatars Methods
          Cost Effectiveness Analysis
          Accents and Dialects
          Deep Learning Methods
          Sociological Theory
          Questionnaires
          Self Report
          Interrater Reliability
          Experimental Studies
          Descriptive Statistics
          Comparative Studies
          Summated Rating Scaling
          Analysis of Variance
          kappa Statistic
          Adolescent: 13-18 years
          Adult: 19-44 years
          Middle Aged: 45-64 years
          Aged: 65+ years
          Aged, 80 & over
          Male
          Female
      ab: Background: The voices virtual on‐screen characters use has been shown to impact learning and perception outcomes. Recent replication research on these voices showed that synthetic voices were not a detriment if produced by a high‐quality engine with clear articulation. The current manuscript examines previous accent research that utilized now outdated engines, to determine if the impact of accents still holds with high‐quality engines and voice actors. Objectives: To investigate the impact on learning and perceptions with pedagogical agents speaking in accented voices, synthetic voices, and the interaction between the two using modern voice engines. Methods: This study is a between‐subjects two (accent) by two (type) factorial design to determine the impact the voice accent, voice type, and the interaction have on learning retention, learning transfer, mental effort efficiency, and perception measures. 197 participants were recruited from the online Amazon's Mechanical Turk with qualifications of 18 years of age, "normal or corrected‐to‐normal hearing", and located with the continental United States of America. Results and Conclusions: There were no significant differences between the accented conditions or interaction effects, deviating from previous research that showed impact of accents on learning. The synthetic condition had significantly lower knowledge retention, knowledge transfer, mental effort efficiency, and perception measures than the human professional. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering voice quality when designing pedagogical agents. Previous research showed synthetic voices perform as well as the average voice, and this research continues the narrative of voice quality by showing professional recordings outperform modern synthetic engines. Lay Description: What is currently known about this topic: Accents and synthetic voices can impact learning from virtual humans. What does this paper add: Shows professional human voices outperform modern synthetics, a quality effect. Implications for practice/or policy: Creators of educational materials should aim for professional voice actors.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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