What Can Bringing Alexa to Seniors Teach Us About Tech?

Bringing advanced technologies like the Alexa digital assistant to seniors could lead to insights on successful product design by monitoring its use by older adults, reports ZDNet . K4Connect founder Scott Moody stresses a well-designed product should offer a smooth user experience for everyone, including the disabled and the physically challenged. K4Connect offers a multi-modal software platform that integrates it all into a system with a single user interface with voice, touch, and ultimately gesture control. The firm's K4Community service provides this platform to senior living communities, enabling administrators to integrate whatever wellness, connectivity, or automation products they desire. Residents can use the platform to sign up for community activities, order food, or request transportation, while caregivers and community staff can avail themselves of data as well. Moody notes seniors present unique challenges for marketing voice-activated assistants, like adjusting for "the cadence of the user's voice, acuity levels, maybe, as you get much older," in addition to "the voice tone, the voice frequencies."