Use of a humanoid robot for auditory psychophysical testing.

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Auditory Psychophysics
• Robotics in Research

Background:

• Psychophysical tests can suffer from low participant engagement due to repetitive tasks.
• Humanoid robots offer a novel interface to potentially enhance engagement in research settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the performance of a NAO robot (Sam) as an auditory testing interface.
• To compare Sam's effectiveness against a standard laptop interface for voice perception tests.

Main Methods:

• Two voice perception tests (voice cue sensitivity, voice gender categorization) were conducted.
• Participants used either a laptop interface or the NAO robot (Sam) to log responses.
• Tests analyzed the perception of fundamental frequency (F0) and vocal tract length (VTL) cues.

Main Results:

• Test results from the Sam interface showed functional similarity to the laptop interface.
• Findings replicated previous studies on voice perception using similar tests.
• Testing duration was longer with Sam due to processing times and implementation limitations.

Conclusions:

• Despite technical constraints (sound quality, processing time), the NAO robot (Sam) is a viable alternative interface for auditory psychophysical tests.
• Sam demonstrates potential for collecting comparable data to traditional methods, possibly improving participant engagement.