Audio analysis of human/virtual-human interaction

Abstract

The audio of the spoken dialogue between a human and a virtual human (VH) is analyzed to explore the impact of H-VH interaction. The goal is to determine if conversing with a VH can elicit detectable and systematic vocal changes. To study this topic, we examined the H-VH scenario of pharmacy students speaking with immersive VHs playing the role of patients. The audio analysis focused on the students' reaction to scripted empathetic challenges designed to generate an unrehearsed affective response from the human. The responses were analyzed with software developed to analyze vocal patterns during H-VH conversations. The analysis discovered vocal changes that were consistent across participants groups and correlated with known H-H conversation patterns. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.