# Like My Aunt Dorothy: Effects of Conversational Styles on Perceptions, Acceptance and Metaphorical Descriptions of Voice Assistants during Later Adulthood

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.11681 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.11681/

## Key facts

- Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 20 Sep 2023.

## Built on by (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [Where Do I 'Add the Egg'?: Exploring Agency and Ownership in AI Creative Co-Writing Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.15440/) (2025)
- [Toward Metaphor-Fluid Conversation Design for Voice User Interfaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.11554/) (2025)
- [Vibe Check: Understanding the Effects of LLM-Based Conversational Agents' Personality and Alignment on User Perceptions in Goal-Oriented Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.09870/) (2025)
- [Design and Evaluation of Generative Agent-based Platform for Human-Assistant Interaction Research: A Tale of 10 User Studies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.09938/) (2025)
- [Exploring User Acceptance and Concerns toward LLM-powered Conversational Agents in Immersive Extended Reality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.15343/) (2025)
- [After Talking with 1,000 Personas: Learning Preference-Aligned Proactive Assistants From Large-Scale Persona Interactions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.04000/) (2026)
- [Behavior-Adaptive Conversational Agents: Toward a Fluid Personality Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.01034/) (2026)
- ["MeBo Leaves a Piece of You Behind": Designing a Relational Voice-Based Memory Companion for Older Adults](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.24706/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Little research has investigated the design of conversational styles of voice assistants (VA) for adults in their later adulthood with varying personalities. In this Wizard of Oz experiment, 34 middle-aged (50 to 64 years old) and 24 older adults (65 to 80 years old) participated in a user study at a simulated home, interacting with a VA using either formal or informal language. Older adults with higher agreeableness perceived VA as being more likeable than middle-aged adults. Middle-aged adults showed similar technology acceptance toward the informal and formal VA, and older adults preferred using informal VA, especially those with low agreeableness. Further, while both middle-aged and older adults frequently anthropomorphized VAs by using human metaphors for them, older adults compared formal VA with professionals (e.g., librarians, teachers) and informal VA with their close ones (e.g., spouses, relatives). Overall, the conversational style showed differential effects on the perceptions of middle-aged and older adults, suggesting personalized design implications.