Shapes of You? Investigating the Acceptance of Video-Based AAL Technologies Applying Different Visualization Modes

Abstract

An aged population, increasing care needs, and a lack of (in)formal caregivers represent major challenges for our society today. Addressing these challenges fuels efforts and developments in innovative technologies leading to various existing AAL applications aiming at improving autonomy, independence, and security in older age. Here, the usage of video-based AAL technologies is promising as detailed information can be obtained and analyzed. Simultaneously, this type of technology is strongly connected with privacy concerns due to fears of unauthorized data access or inappropriate use of recorded data potentially resulting in rejection and non-use of the applications. As privacy-preserving visualizations of video data can diminish those concerns, this empirical study examines the acceptance and privacy perceptions of video-based AAL technology applying different visualization modes for privacy preservation (n = 161). These visualization modes differed in their degrees of visibility and identifiability, covering different levels of privacy preservation (low level: “Blurred” mode; medium level: “Pixel” and “Grey” modes; high level: “Avatar” mode) and are specifically evaluated based on realistic video sequences. The results of our study indicate a rather low acceptance of video-based AAL technology in general. From the diverse visualization modes, the “Avatar” mode is most preferred as it is perceived as best suitable to protect and preserve the users’ privacy. Beyond that, distinct clusters of future users were identified differing in their technology evaluation as well as in individual characteristics (i.e., privacy perception, technology commitment). The findings support the understanding of potential users’ needs for a successful future design, development, and implementation of video-based, but still privacy-preserving AAL technology.

Eyes on privacy: acceptance of video-based AAL impacted by activities being filmed

“…Regarding the single benefits, faster reactions in emergencies was the most relevant benefit across all three activities. This is in line with a recent study dealing with video-based AAL of Offermann et al ( 49 ) that also reported emergency-related aspects as the most important benefit. Related to this, another security-related benefit, namely gain in safety was the second most relevant benefit for household activity and the third most important for social and intimate activity.…”

“…A general trend can be observed starting with a low privacy need for basic household chores, a medium privacy need for social activities and care-related ones and the highest privacy need for the most intimate activities. The existence of two extreme poles, uncritically perceived household activities compared to highly critically perceived intimate activities has been reported before ( 37 , 38 , 40 , 49 ) in the context of video-based AAL technology and is confirmed within the results of the current study. Except for cooking and eating which were counted among the most privacy concerning activities in the study of Choe et al ( 39 ), the current findings are very much comparable.…”

“…The fact that acceptance for video-based AAL technology was slightly more positive than assessments in earlier studies ( 13 , 26 , 27 ) could be referred to the safety-criticality of each situation. In the case of safety-critical situations in which urgent help is vital, e.g., in an accident scenario (i.e., a fall), privacy needs diminish ( 49 ). In this study, we presented three different scenarios with comparable safety-criticality.…”

“…These privacy preservation methods involve the use of various visualization modes (i.e., image filters) which make people and their body shapes unrecognizable to varying degrees. Being among few in considering activity-specific acceptance, a recent study by Offermann et al ( 49 ) investigated the acceptance and privacy of video-based AAL technology including the perception of different visualization modes in three specific everyday situations (i.e., eating, undressing, falling). First of all, the results ( 49 ) confirmed the general trend of reduced acceptance of video-based AAL technology.…”

“…Being among few in considering activity-specific acceptance, a recent study by Offermann et al ( 49 ) investigated the acceptance and privacy of video-based AAL technology including the perception of different visualization modes in three specific everyday situations (i.e., eating, undressing, falling). First of all, the results ( 49 ) confirmed the general trend of reduced acceptance of video-based AAL technology. Second, the study demonstrated that the three specific situations were perceived differently from each other in terms of privacy and intimacy and, consequently, the preferred data visualization mode varied among the situations as well.…”