News Poll: SSN readers positive on voice interaction

YARMOUTH, Maine—IHS Markit recently released data that the market for voice operated alarm systems will be growing to 2022. Security Systems News asked its readers how they feel about the technology and most say it's a meaningful user interface.

“I was very skeptical at first but after using the technology for a while, and seeing some significant improvements, I have expanded its application in my own home. In commercial applications it would need to be combined with some type of verification (verbal password, biometric, etc.),” Wayne Arvidson, managing partner of the consulting firm Arvidson+Wagnisse LLC, said.

Fifty-seven percent of poll respondents were positive on voice as a user interface. An additional 27 percent said that it has value for some uses. Sixteen percent said voice control is useless.

“Voice is a natural way to communicate. Not bells and buzzers. We come together at conferences so we can hear lectures and learn to speak and interact; voice is as much a part of security as video or access control,” one respondent said. “Voice needs to grow in our market place and we have just touched the start of this technology.”

Another respondent said,  “We use the interface in all other interactions. The only issue is that the interfacing be encrypted to impede outside hackers from breaching the system and data.”

One other reader classified fans of voice control as “narcissistic” for wanting to command devices to work around them.

One respondent recommended that manufacturers should work with existing voice controlled devices, like Google Home or the Amazon Echo, “rather than re-invent the wheel. If they want to re-invent the wheel they better be prepared to offer a system equal or better than the current offerings.”

Voice control is good for the industry, a move toward the future, according to 59 percent of respondents. Thirty-five percent said that it's too soon to gauge voice's potential industry impact. Five percent said voice is not good for security.

Most respondents—70 percent—said that voice is best for controlling smart home devices. Sixteen percent pointed more toward panel interactions like arming and disarming a security system. Fourteen percent said “Other.”

“One of the great applications would be for people with a disability,” one reader said.