Polite or Direct? Conversation Design of a Smart Display for Older Adults Based on Politeness Theory
Yaxin Hu, Yuxiao Qu, Adam Maus, and Bilge Mutlu

TL;DR
This study applies politeness theory to design conversational interfaces for older adults, aiming to reduce user burden and enhance experience through tailored speech acts and personalized interaction strategies.
Contribution
It introduces a politeness-based conversation design framework for smart displays, including categorization of speech acts, face needs, and personalized user personas.
Findings
Politeness strategies improve perceived politeness of voice assistants.
Four user personas inform personalized interaction design.
Field study shows effective application of politeness strategies in real use.
Abstract
Conversational interfaces increasingly rely on human-like dialogue to offer a natural experience. However, relying on dialogue involving multiple exchanges for even simple tasks can overburden users, particularly older adults. In this paper, we explored the use of politeness theory in conversation design to alleviate this burden and improve user experience. To achieve this goal, we categorized the voice interaction offered by a smart display application designed for older adults into seven major speech acts: request, suggest, instruct, comment, welcome, farewell, and repair. We identified face needs for each speech act, applied politeness strategies that best address these needs, and tested the ability of these strategies to shape the perceived politeness of a voice assistant in an online study (). Based on the findings of this study, we designed direct and polite versions of the…
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Taxonomy
TopicsAI in Service Interactions · Social Robot Interaction and HRI · Technology Use by Older Adults
