Command and control versus intelligent assistants for senior citizens

I have a zero-configuration call screening program that targets/protects senior citizens from robocallers and other miscreants and scams. The program runs on low-end dev-boards and interfaces with telco landlines using an USB modem. I want to provide a way to modify a running configuration, but I don't want to require a desktop computer or smartphone.

Reading indicates voice commands can help senior citizens. See, for example, Voice Recognition Innovation and the Implications for Seniors and Usability of Voice User Interfaces for Senior Citizens.

Given a voice interface is helpful, that leaves the "how" for seniors. I feel like "command and control" is a better interface for this particular application, but folks who build voice engines say "intelligent assistants" is a better interface in general. From CMU Pocket Sphinx project:

For command and control, it was popular to use a finite state grammar for a long time. However, we do not recommend this approach nowadays. It’s way better to employ a medium vocabulary recognizer with a semantic analysis framework on top to improve the users’ experience and let them use more or less natural language. In short, don’t build command and control, build intelligent assistants instead.

For intelligent assistants you do not only need the recognition, but also intent parsing and database knowledge. For more details on how to implement this you can check Lucida powered by OpenEphyra. Dialog systems will require a framework for user feedback as well.

When I started researching and designing the voice interface, the use cases I envisioned include the following. The use cases are driven by the low resource constraints, and fall into "command and control" interface.

  • "Callman, block call"
  • "Callman, block caller"
  • "Callman, allow call"
  • "Callman, allow caller"

(I also have a whimsical grammar. "Callman, yuk yuk" means the caller is bad and should be moved to a blacklist. "Callman, yum yum" means the caller is good and should be moved to a whitelist).

I think I need to better understand the intersection of "command and control" with seniors. I need to know if the voice command implementation is going to confuse them (more than normal?). My questions are:

  • are there empirical results that indicate "intelligent assistants" are [far?] superior to "command and control" when used with seniors?
  • are there empirical results that indicate "command and control" is ineffective with seniors?
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