Tasks of auditory psychophysical testing can at times be repetitive to fully gauge one’s perceptive capabilities, which can cause individuals to lose engagement during testing and result unreliable data. To facilitate the engagement, this research proposed the use of a humanoid NAO robot as an alternative interface for auditory testing to the standard computer.
To investigate this, a comparative study of Luke Meyer was conducted between the NAO and computer interfaces using the Perception of Indexical Cues in Kids and Adults (PICKA) test battery. The PICKA battery is a collection of four auditory perception tests, each of which explores a different property of speech and voice perception. In addition to comparing the auditory data, a second component known as human-robot interaction (HRI) was investigated to determine the perception participants had toward the NAO as a testing interface.
Results of the PICKA test comparison showed that the NAO was able to collect and produce functionally similar data to that collected and produced by the computer. Furthermore, the NAO elicited more dynamic interactions with participants, indicating a more engaging and enjoyable interaction in comparison to using the computer. Despite the inherent constraints of the NAO robot, such as in sound quality, relatively long processing and testing times, and different methods of response logging, the NAO interface can indeed facilitate the collection of similar data to the standard computer.
