Applying Affordance Factor Analysis for Smart Home Speakers in Different Age Groups: A Case Study Approach

Chih-Fu Wu, Ying-Kit Wong, Hsiu-Hui Hsu and Cheng-Yu Huang
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Chih-Fu Wu: Department of Industrial Design, Tatung University, Taipei City 104, Taiwan
Ying-Kit Wong: Graduate Institute of Design Science, Tatung University, Taipei City 104, Taiwan
Hsiu-Hui Hsu: Department of Applied Cosmetology, Lee-Ming Institute of Technology, New Taipei City 243, Taiwan
Cheng-Yu Huang: Department of Industrial Design, Tatung University, Taipei City 104, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-22

Abstract: Many people use smart speakers at home nowadays for various reasons, such as playing music, checking news and weather, setting timers/alarms, etc. However, before smart speakers were created and available on the market, people used to have home audio systems for similar applications. Nonetheless, the control systems of smart speakers have many different appearances. Affordance is the information given by an object, which is determined by its appearance and supplies clues about its appropriate operation. Therefore, smart speakers should have affordances. Since smart speakers are the main device in the sustainable lifestyle of human beings in smart homes, this study analyzed the affordances of its appearance affect people and the result is essential to the sustainability of smart home. The present study presents a review of the smart speakers in Taiwan, focusing on the four main affordances (physical, cognitive, sensory, functional) and three different age groups (60 participants) based on four appearance categories of smart speaker control, namely, mechanical button control, no-button–no-touch control, touchscreen control, and touch sensor control. By examining the comparison of three age groups, 18–24, 25–49 and 50+, the results of one-way ANOVA showed that the smart speakers with touchscreen control and touch sensor control had a significant difference ( p < 0.01) in four main affordances among these three age groups. The smart speakers with mechanical button control and no-button–no-touch control had no significant difference ( p > 0.01) in four main affordances among these three age groups. In conclusion, age-range and cultural group affect the affordance of smart home speakers.

Keywords: smart speaker; smart home; home audio; home stereo; affordance; affordance-based design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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