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Surrounded by computers, telephones and other types of technology, Delyana Miller spends most of her day working with one of the most loathed things on earth-automated voice telephone systems. Miller, a PhD candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Ottawa, is conducting numerous tests to develop improvements to Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems for seniors.
Working with her supervisor, Claude Messier of the School of Psychology and TelASK Technologies, Miller focuses her research on making IVR more user-friendly for older people. By examining which important memory and cognitive abilities play a role in successful IVR interaction for seniors, these researchers are hoping to make enhancements to current systems to reflect the abilities of older adults and so the systems better meet their particular needs.
At the moment, Miller's team is nearing the end of the data collection phase. "Participants are invited to a three-hour testing session where we ask them to use five IVR systems, followed by a battery of memory and cognitive functioning tests. "We are examining the most common difficulties older people face when they interact with IVR systems and are trying to link these difficulties to their cognitive and memory abilities," says Miller.
The 2009 recipient of the Naomi Grigg Fellowship for Post-Graduate Studies in Gerontology, Miller is motivated by giving back the knowledge she has gained at uOttawa to her surrounding community. "What is a daily and meaningless experience for most people (actually, these systems can be difficult and frustrating for some younger people as well) has become a serious obstacle for seniors. It is extremely rewarding for me to facilitate this research on their behalf," concludes Miller.
By Dominic Boutin