Privacy autonomy for smart speakers: Designing multimodal scaffolding to support older adults and people with learning disabilities

Aldhafiri, Reem 2026. Privacy autonomy for smart speakers: Designing multimodal scaffolding to support older adults and people with learning disabilities. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Smart speakers are widely used by older adults and people with learning disabilities, supporting everyday activities through voice interaction. However, privacy management typically relies on text-heavy companion applications with fragmented menu structures, which can limit users’ ability to understand or independently manage how their personal data is collected, stored, or shared. This thesis investigates how privacy management interfaces for smart speakers can be designed to better support independent use by these populations. The research combines a systematic literature review with two empirical studies. The review analysed 49 studies on privacy in IoT technologies for older adults and identified recurring challenges, including interface complexity, limited privacy awareness, and a lack of evaluated interventions that support independent privacy management. Two empirical studies were then conducted. The first involved 40 older adults and evaluated a Multimodal Privacy Assistant (MPA) combining voice interaction with synchronised visual text and consolidated navigation. Compared with the standard Alexa mobile application, MPA improved awareness of key privacy settings and was rated as more usable. The second study involved 26 people with learning disabilities and evaluated a privacy interface offering Voice/Text, Video with Makaton signing, and Symbol formats. The Video interface enabled most participants to report confidence in managing privacy settings independently, while no participants reported confidence with the Voice/Text interface and only a small number did so with Symbols. In both studies, many participants had never previously accessed privacy settings despite daily smart speaker use. Synthesising insights across the studies suggests that barriers to privacy autonomy may differ across populations and are shaped by interface design. The thesis introduces the concept of autonomous confidence to describe the distinction between completing privacy tasks with support and feeling able to manage privacy independently, informing more inclusive approaches to privacy design in smart home technologies.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Psychology Schools > Computer Science & Informatics
Subjects:	Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 April 2026
Date of Acceptance:	February 2026
Last Modified:	01 May 2026 11:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/186720

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