Influence of Voice Characteristics and Language Style of Intelligent Assistant on User Trust and Intention to Use

Intelligent assistants are increasingly employed, utilizing voice interaction as a natural and intuitive method to offer users functions such as information query, information management, entertainment, and chatting. How to improve the user experience of intelligent assistants in terms of voice interaction and design and thus enhance user acceptance is our research focus. A within-subject experiment was designed, and a total of 260 participants were recruited to participate in the experiment. The experiment adopted a 2 pitch (high, low) × 2 speed (fast, slow) × 2 voice gender (male, female) × 2 language style (social-oriented style, task-oriented style) design to investigate the effects of voice characteristics and language style on users’ trust and intention to use intelligent assistant. The results indicated that participants perceived higher ease of use and higher usefulness when the speed was high. With a male voice gender, the social-oriented intelligent assistant led to higher perceived usefulness and intention to use. Participants’ perceived ease of use was higher when using an intelligent assistant with a gender opposite to their own. Participants expressed the highest level of trust in an intelligent assistant characterized by high pitch and speed, a female voice, and a task-oriented language style. This study discussed the influence of voice characteristics and language style on user trust and intention to use and provided practical insights for the design of intelligent assistant.