Acceptability and Expectations of Social Robots in Speech and Language Therapy - A Survey
摘要
With Speech and Language Therapists (SLT) being increasingly overworked and the integration of technologies soaring in the last few years, and the affordability of social robots increasing, it is timely to investigate how robots could be integrated into the practice. This study addresses the gap by surveying speech-language pathology practitioners, gathering data on their attitudes, perceived benefits, expected robot roles, and concerns regrading the integration of social robots into therapy. Overall, the findings suggest a cautious optimism for adopting social robots in SLT, highlighting the need to align robot capabilities with user expectations and to provide training that improves familiarity. This study provides novel empirical insights as one of the first to examine the acceptability of social robots in the SLT context, offering data to inform the design and deployment of such technology.