Coastal and Rural Digital Exclusion: The Case for Voice AI

Rory Baxter, Oksana Hagen, Amir Aly, Ray Jones, Katharine Willis

2025

Abstract

The adoption of digital platforms for health and social resources disadvantages vulnerable populations, including older adults and those living in remote or deprived areas. This could be remediated using voice-based conversational AI (Voice AI) systems delivered via landline phone, bypassing the requirement for digital device access or digital skills. British rural and coastal regions often have poorer digital infrastructure and pockets of deprivation, and consequently higher levels of digital exclusion. This study explores digital exclusion in Southwest England and the suitability of Voice AI systems for supporting digital inclusion. Seventeen participants aged 50 years or over were interviewed by telephone and took part in one of two face to face focus groups to identify how digital exclusion impacts access to health and wellbeing resources. The results indicated that digital access was severely impacted by unreliable infrastructure and exacerbated by limited digital skills. Phone-based Voice AI systems could then provide viable solutions to support access to digital health and social resources for digitally marginalised coastal and rural communities.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Baxter R., Hagen O., Aly A., Jones R. and Willis K. (2025). Coastal and Rural Digital Exclusion: The Case for Voice AI. In Proceedings of the 18th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 2: HEALTHINF; ISBN 978-989-758-731-3, SciTePress, pages 734-741. DOI: 10.5220/0013259300003911

in Bibtex Style

@conference{healthinf25,
author={Rory Baxter and Oksana Hagen and Amir Aly and Ray Jones and Katharine Willis},
title={Coastal and Rural Digital Exclusion: The Case for Voice AI},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 18th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 2: HEALTHINF},
year={2025},
pages={734-741},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013259300003911},
isbn={978-989-758-731-3},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 18th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 2: HEALTHINF
TI - Coastal and Rural Digital Exclusion: The Case for Voice AI
SN - 978-989-758-731-3
AU - Baxter R.
AU - Hagen O.
AU - Aly A.
AU - Jones R.
AU - Willis K.
PY - 2025
SP - 734
EP - 741
DO - 10.5220/0013259300003911
PB - SciTePress