Musically expressive doll in face-to-face communication

We propose an application that uses music as a multimodal expression to activate and support communication that runs parallel with traditional conversation. We examine a personified doll-shaped interface designed for musical expression. To direct such gestures toward communication, we have adopted an augmented stuffed toy with tactile interaction as a musically expressive device. We constructed the doll with various sensors for user context recognition. This configuration enables translation of the interaction into melodic statements. We demonstrate the effect of the doll on face-to-face conversation by comparing the experimental results of different input interfaces and output sounds. Consequently, we have found that conversation with the doll was positively affected by the musical output, the doll interface, and their combination.