Intelligent personal assistants (IPAs) are software packages designed to assist people with basic tasks. They are usually based on voice interaction, as input and output, and natural language understanding, and with the advent of voice-first devices are becoming a spread technology. However, as the technology is quite recent, there are only a few studies exploring either general facets or special aspects of user perception. In this context, the present research paper investigates the feelings of users with disabilities about these new applications. The straightforward benefit is to inform IPA designers on the perception and accessibility needs of this segment of users.

The paper presents two studies. The first one analyzes online customer reviews of Amazon Echo, Alexa (a popular IPA), and Google Home devices. Reviews from 346 customers with a broad range of disabilities provide information about their overall perception of this modern technology, but also about specific automated home activities and tasks where they proved useful, about accessibility through user interfaces and voice interaction, safety and privacy, usefulness, as well as suggestions, critiques, and detected limitations. Moreover, unexpected use cases in speech therapy, as a learning support or memory aid, came out.

A second study is a more thorough exploration, interviewing a subset of users with visual impairments, “recruited from across the United States through Facebook groups specific to Amazon Echo, Echo Dot and Google Home.” It consolidates the previous findings and particularizes the evaluation on this type of impairment.

The material is helpful in that it shows the research methodology for the survey, for example, the selection of subjects and themes of analysis. It is also useful concerning outcomes--the overall perception is positive, but critical reviews may provide a valuable perspective for IPA creators.