ORCID

Abstract

The adoption of digital platforms for health and social resources disadvantages vulnerable populations, including older adults and those living in remote or deprived areas. This could be remediated using voice-based conversational AI (Voice AI) systems delivered via landline phone, bypassing the requirement for digital device access or digital skills. British rural and coastal regions often have poorer digital infrastructure and pockets of deprivation, and consequently higher levels of digital exclusion. This study explores digital exclusion in Southwest England and the suitability of Voice AI systems for supporting digital inclusion. Seventeen participants aged 50 years or over were interviewed by telephone and took part in one of two face to face focus groups to identify how digital exclusion impacts access to health and wellbeing resources. The results indicated that digital access was severely impacted by unreliable infrastructure and exacerbated by limited digital skills. Phone-based Voice AI systems could then provide viable solutions to support access to digital health and social resources for digitally marginalised coastal and rural communities.

Publication Date

2025-02-20

Event

BIOSTEC: 18th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies: HEALTHINF: 18th International on Health Informatics

Publication Title

Proceedings of the 18th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies

Volume

2

Publisher

Science and Technology Publications, Lda

ISBN

978-989-758-731-3

Acceptance Date

2024-12-20

Deposit Date

2025-01-13

Embargo Period

2025-02-21

Funding

This paper is presented on behalf of the ICONIC project that includes Marius Varga, Dena Bazazian, Swen Gaudl, Alejandro Veliz Reyes, Daniel Maudlin, Chunxu Li, Sheena Asthana, Kerry Howell, Shangming Zhou, Emmanuel Ifeachor, and Hannah Bradwell as co-applicants and advisors and Lauren Tenn and Linan Zhang (Media and Administration Officers). We thank our participants and partners organisations. Intergenerational co-creation of novel technologies to reconnect digitally excluded people with community & cultural landscapes in coastal economies (ICONIC) is funded by UK Research and Innovation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Grant Ref: EP/W024357/1.

Keywords

Digital exclusion, Digital divide, Voice-based systems, Chatbots, Voice AI

First Page

734

Last Page

741

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