"Same Voice, Different Language": An Exploration of Voice-Cloned Translation to Support Non-Native Speakers in Online MeetingsCross-lingual meetings have become essential for global collaboration, yet current translation technologies often strip away vocal identity — the unique speaker characteristics that convey nuance and social presence. While generic text-to-speech (TTS) provides basic intelligibility, it creates a disconnect between speakers and their translated voices, potentially undermining engagement and comprehension. This paper investigates whether voice cloning technology can bridge this gap by preserving speaker identity in real-time translation. We present a controlled study comparing four voice conditions in meeting interpretation: original speech, gender-neutral TTS, gender-matched TTS, and voice cloning. Through a within-subjects experiment with 45 participants, we demonstrate that voice cloning significantly reduces mental workload ($p < .001$) and enhances user experience across pragmatic quality ($p < .001$), hedonic quality ($p < .001$), and overall satisfaction ($p < .001$) compared to traditional TTS. While original speech maintained advantages in naturalness, voice cloning achieved superior intelligibility, social impression, and user preference. Qualitative analysis revealed that participants valued voice cloning for preserving speaker identity and improving conversation tracking in multi-speaker scenarios. Our findings suggest that identity-preserving translation represents a significant advancement for cross-lingual communication systems, offering both cognitive and social benefits. We conclude with design implications for integrating voice cloning into meeting platforms while addressing ethical considerations around consent and transparency.2026YMYong Ma et al.University of BergenMultilingual & Cross-Cultural Voice InteractionVoice User Interface (VUI) DesignHuman-LLM CollaborationIUI
Taking a Walk on the Wild Side: Effects of Walking in Synchrony with Pitch-Altered Footstep Sounds on Body Perception in Outside the Lab ContextsThe 'Footsteps Illusion' shows that pitch-altering footstep sounds in real-time affects body perception, gait, and emotion: high versus low frequencies evoke a lighter versus heavier body. We tested whether this illusion extends beyond the lab, where environmental factors matter. Using a mixed-methods approach, twenty-eight participants used a minimal setup to synchronize with three prerecorded pitch-altered footstep soundtracks: Control, High-Frequency, and Low-Frequency. In Experiment 1, they walked a fixed path, with gait recordings, questionnaires, and body visualizations. In Experiment 2, they walked freely across campus routes with High/Low-Frequency soundtracks, followed by post-walk interviews using a novel spatial mapping tool linking body sensations to context. Results replicate the illusion outdoors, showing synchronization with prerecorded sounds as a viable alternative to real-time feedback, and revealing that contextual factors modulate illusion effects. We contribute insights and novel tools (prototype, spatial mapping method, and footstep soundbase) for studying multisensory body perception in everyday contexts.2026ADAmar D'Adamo et al.Universidad Carlos III de MadridMultisensory Fusion ExperienceEmotion Recognition & DetectionAffective Feedback & Emotion Regulation InterfacesCHI
Play/Destroy: A portfolio of sound destruction devicesDigital media operates on a curious boundary between storage and loss. While each new storage format promises a permanent solution to our exponentially expanding media libraries, they inevitably fail or otherwise become unusable. This paper reflects on a long-term design process that attempts to bring a different paradigm to the experience of personal digital media: destruction. We present an annotated portfolio of a set of sound listening devices, critically unpacking the particular temporal, perceptual, and experiential qualities that emerge when designing for the loss of personal media. These annotations show how destruction comes to matter in designing against the traditional bias towards growth and accumulation in HCI.2026YSYann Seznec et al.KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyDigital Art Installations & Interactive PerformanceTangible User Interface DesignEmpathy & Emotional DesignCHI
Modalities of Regulation in Sustainable HCI: Rethinking the Role of Design in Shaping Sustainable Behaviours and SocietyThere have been repeated calls for more ecological approaches to Sustainable HCI, and for the inclusion of the sociopolitical, structural, historical, and geographical aspects that shape technology-mediated practices of sustainability. Contributing to this discourse, and drawing from scholarship on Law and IT, this paper explores how the law, technology design, market mechanisms, and social norms enable and constrain behaviours – that is, how they regulate them. We use these modalities to discuss two digital technologies: a gig-work platform mediating practices of waste transportation, and an eco-visualisation platform scraping sustainability reports of publicly listed companies. The analysis expands on the set of dynamics that characterise the relations between these practices of sustainability, technology design, and regulation. We conclude by discussing the relevance of this conceptualisation for HCI, specifically in defining the roles of designers as regulators, and regarding design for sustainability as constituted through varying entanglements of these modalities.2026CRChiara Rossitto et al.Stockholm UniversitySustainable HCIEcological Design & Green ComputingVolunteer Coordination & Crowdsourced Disaster ReliefCHI
When Things Don’t Go As Planned with Digital Contraception.We present a qualitative interview study that examines what happens when things do not go as planned with digital contraception. Through an analysis of 27 interviews with ongoing users of digital contraception at the time of the study, we convey participants’ accounts of their experiences regarding unplanned pregnancies or use of emergency contraception to avoid an unplanned pregnancy. Our analysis considers participants' sense-making processes, and notably how they attended to questions of risk and responsibility. Finally, we depict how these participants came to continue using digital contraception after these experiences. Our study connects to ongoing conversations on technological failures in personal informatics and safety-critical systems. We emphasise that failure and success should not be used as a binary classification of long-term users' relationships with self-tracking technology, which are intimate and critical. Rather, the sustained relation with an intimate technology is composed by several `failures' which are interpreted, acted upon, and, ultimately, overcome.2026CBCristina Bosco et al.Indiana University BloomingtonHealth Self-TrackingBehavior Change & Reflection TechnologyPrivacy & Data Ownership in Self-TrackingCHI
Determining Perception Thresholds for Real and Virtual Inclinations While Cycling in Virtual RealityIn virtual reality (VR) experiences, mismatches between reality and virtuality are usually undesirable, as they can disrupt immersion and induce cybersickness. However, when carefully controlled, they may expand the design space of VR. This research investigates perceptual detection thresholds for mismatches between real and virtual inclinations during cycling in VR. Using a custom simulation, N=30 participants cycled through a virtual city while physical and visual inclinations were independently manipulated. Real inclinations were implemented with a tilting indoor bike, providing vestibular and proprioceptive feedback, while virtual inclinations within the simulated environment were presented visually. A multiple staircase procedure derived estimates for perceptual thresholds that approximate which mismatches in visual and physical inclination were still perceived as congruent. These thresholds reveal a window of perceived congruence before mismatches become noticeable to users. These findings advance understanding of sensory integration in VR cycling and inform applications in immersive training, exergames, and rehabilitation systems.2026JKJonas Keppel et al.University of Duisburg-EssenImmersion & Presence ResearchFitness Tracking & Physical Activity MonitoringMotion Sickness & Passenger ExperienceCHI
Aesthetics of Felt AsymmetryOur bodies mediate every interaction with technology, yet—as soma design and feminist HCI remind us—the body is not a neutral canvas. We introduce and examine felt asymmetries—somaesthetic experiences of difference in the body—as a site for generative and critical engagement in interaction design. Through an autobiographical design exploration, and a series of somatic explorations with nine designers including individual inquiries and workshops, we sensitised to, articulated, and shared personal experiences of asymmetry. We draw from these explorations to contribute: (1) Opening a design space exploring the aesthetics of felt asymmetries; (2) Reflections on engaging with asymmetry in design, e.g. as a design material, an estrangement activity or doorway into intimate experience; (3) Considerations for creating technologies that resonate with, rather than erase, the asymmetries of lived experience. We argue that bodily asymmetries are not only to be accommodated in design, but embraced as aesthetic resources—sources of joy, tension, and creativity.2026AHAlice C Haynes et al.KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyTechnology Ethics & Critical HCIParticipatory DesignPrototyping & User TestingCHI
Exploring the Design of a LLM-Based AI Assistant for Mindfulness Practice With Older AdultsLarge Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly integrated into mental health and well-being technologies, yet little is known about how they are perceived by older adults or how they should be designed to meet later-life needs. Mindfulness technologies, often promoted as tools for healthy ageing, provide a useful context for exploring these questions. We conducted participatory workshops with sixteen older adults using LugnAI, a prototype LLM-based system for guided mindfulness practice. Participants reflected on their experiences with AI-guided mindfulness and contributed design preferences for future systems. Analysis revealed tensions between adaptivity and autonomy, supportive versus intrusive engagement strategies, and AI-enabled emotional support versus the preservation of human connection and self-regulation practices. Based on these findings, we provide concrete design considerations for LLM-based mindfulness technologies that are sensitive to the socioaffective realities of ageing. While situated in mindfulness, the insights extend to broader applications of LLMs in supporting older adults’ well-being.2026LMLucy McCarren et al.KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyHuman-LLM CollaborationMental Health Apps & Online Support CommunitiesElderly Care & Dementia SupportCHI
Ecological Systems Theory for Studying and Designing Menstrual TechnologiesMenstrual experiences are shaped by many different stakeholders, entities, and the broader socio-cultural context, or in other words, the ecological systems surrounding a menstruator. We explore what it means to take an ecological approach in studying and designing menstrual technologies. We translated and adapted Ecological Systems Theory (EST) for menstrual wellbeing and packaged the outcome in the form of a socio-ecological Canvas, accompanied by written examples and a set of prompts to facilitate engagement. We invited ten experts to engage with the Canvas in reflective workshops, which informed its further refinement. These sessions highlighted the Canvas' generative value, fostering critical reflection on how design choices are shaped by and ripple across layers of influence. With this translational research, we invite HCI researchers and practitioners to critically reflect on the ecologies they study and design for, envisioning both aspired versions of existing realities and realities that do not exist yet.2026ATAnupriya Tuli et al.KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyReproductive & Women's HealthInclusive DesignTechnology Ethics & Critical HCICHI
Exploring and Probing the Algorithmic Gaze on Bodies and Well-beingMachine Learning (ML) models are increasingly applied to wearable self-tracking technologies to offer daily classifications and recommendations for well-being. This shift introduces design challenges, particularly regarding the opacity of training processes and model outputs. We contribute to this space with a conceptual framing of the algorithmic gaze on body and well-being, which we use to critically investigate long-term engagement with a wearable self-tracking technology. Through an autoethnographic study with the Oura Ring, we identified three themes, highlighting tensions between wearer and the ML models, namely: Conflicting narratives of daily activities, fine-tuning of the human, and blurry boundaries of multiple bodies using such devices simultaneously. Departing from the themes, we used fabulation as a method to craft narratives that probe the tensions from the algorithmic gaze, from which we offer alternative design openings for ML in wearable self-tracking devices.2026LMLouie Søs Meyer et al.IT University of CopenhagenHealth Self-TrackingBehavior Change & Reflection TechnologyPrivacy & Data Ownership in Self-TrackingCHI
Inside the Mirror, Wearing My own Body: Why UX Should Engage Monstrous ExperiencesWhile engaging with four different wearable systems, we unexpectedly encountered felt experiences that resisted articulation and defied conventional classification. They were neither pleasant nor unpleasant, and yet both; neither comforting nor frightening, and yet both; neither recognizably human-like nor machinic, and yet both. Such ambiguous experiences might have gone unnoticed had we not attended to their somatic, felt dimensions. Existing user experience frameworks offered little guidance in making sense of these phenomena. However, through the lens of monster theory, these paradoxical experiences began to reveal their structure and significance. Drawing on concepts such as fusion, fission, massification, and incompleteness, we analyze and interpret the unexpected monstrous experiences arising from interacting with wearable systems. We argue that such experiences deserve a place in interaction design: not only for the enduring fascination of the monster, but also for its power to disrupt simplistic schemas, enrich design possibilities, and illuminate cultural shifts.2026PKPavel Karpashevich et al.Carl von Ossietzky University of OldenburgHaptic WearablesEmotion-Sensing WearablesAffective Feedback & Emotion Regulation InterfacesCHI
Diffusing Social Boundaries through Virtual Bodies: How Mixed Reality Embodied Experiences Can Foster Social Connection.Virtual and Mixed Reality (XR) offer new opportunities for supporting social connection by reshaping embodied interaction and transforming social norms. We present Body RemiXer, an asymmetric XR installation designed to foster connection by inviting interpersonal touch, abstracting identity through ethereal avatars, encouraging synchronized interaction, and enabling impossible forms of shared embodiment. Through phenomenological interviews, we investigated how these design tactics mediated participants’ sense of connection. Our analysis reveals both potentials and tensions: abstraction lowered inhibitions and highlighted shared humanness but risked depersonalization; body mixing fostered unity but challenged virtual body ownership; mediated touch evoked closeness, but reminded of physical reality; and participants navigated bifurcated social norms across physical and virtual spaces. We contribute a nuanced account of these design trade-offs, advancing understanding of how abstraction, embodiment, touch, and social norm negotiation shape connection in XR, and outlining design considerations for crafting social XR experiences.2026ESEkaterina R. Stepanova et al.KTH Royal Institute of TechnologySocial & Collaborative VRImmersion & Presence ResearchIdentity & Avatars in XRCHI
AI That Moves With You: A Review of Interactive Technologies Powered by Large Foundation Models for Mobility ImpairmentLarge foundation models (FMs) -- including large language model (LLM), large vision model (LVM), vision language model (VLM), and related variants -- are rapidly reshaping interactive assistive technologies during past years. We present a review of FM-enabled interactive systems for people with mobility impairments, covering work published from January 2020 to May 2025. Searching five databases, we screened 6,249 records and included 27 full papers. We first summerize descriptive results including study design and evaluation approaches of the reviewed studies. We then synthesize FM techniques, model integration patterns, interaction paradigms, and mobility impairment contexts. Our analysis surfaces and distills both technical and ethical challenges existed, lighting up future research topics. We contribute: (i) a conceptualization of FM-enabled interactions for mobility impairment functioning as a design space; (ii) a tabulated corpus with a reproducible codebook; and (iii) a forward agenda to guide and inspire the design of future mobility-assistance interactive systems within human-computer interaction (HCI) and CHI community.2026DDDuosi Dai et al.Aarhus universityGenerative AI (Text, Image, Music, Video)AI-Assisted Decision-Making & AutomationMotor Impairment Assistive Input TechnologiesCHI
Shared Use of Intimate Technology: A Large-Scale Qualitative Study on the Use of Natural Cycles as a Digital ContraceptiveWe present a large-scale, qualitative interview study that examines how an intimate technology within reproductive health comes to be chosen and trusted as a mode of contraception and how its use is shared between partners. We conducted 133 semi-structured interviews with \textit{primary users} of Natural Cycles, focusing specifically on its use as \textit{a digital contraceptive}. Our interpretive analysis, first, sheds light on perceptions of risks and benefits, along with how, and by whom, the decision to adopt Natural Cycles got made. Second, we discuss participants' and their partners' gradual development of trust in the system, and how this intertwines with interpersonal trust. Third, we consider the shared use of Natural Cycles, including partner involvement in temperature tracking, the sharing of intimate data, and navigating specific choices and risks regarding sex and contraception. We make a primarily empirical contribution to Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) research on shared uses of technology and the sharing of intimate data, and highlight avenues for future work to foster understanding of intimate technologies and their shared use in relational settings.2025ALAiri Lampinen et al.Women & GenderCSCW
Verifying or Clarifying? User Preferences for Mobile Crowdsourcing in Response to Seemingly Inconsistent Sensor DataIn the realm of smart cities, sensor technologies play a pivotal role in monitoring urban facilities and environments, providing real-time, site-specific information to residents. However, discrepancies often arise in sensor data due to variances in granularity, abstraction, and scope, which can foster uncertainty regarding the actual conditions on-site. This study explores whether, under these circumstances, individuals prefer on-site mobile crowds for verification purposes or for the provision of supplementary contextual information to aid in decision-making. Conducting an online study with 100 participants from our home country, who engaged in a think-aloud process while utilizing smart city sensor data for decision-making, our findings indicate that participants more often (54%) preferred seeking verification over supplementary contextual information (46%). Both pre-existing expectations and the sense of task urgency affected participants' choices between verification and supplementary contextual information. However, we found that the driving factor for seeking supplementary contextual information was not sensor data deviating from pre-existing expectations, but rather the absence of such pre-existing expectations. Our qualitative data also uncovered five primary motivations and four factors influencing the choice of crowdsourced information. Overall, these findings contribute to our understanding of how people leverage on-site mobile crowds to supplement sensor data in the context of smart cities.2025YCYou-Hsuan Chiang et al.Crowdsourcing & Peer ProductionCSCW
The Collaborative Work of Stewardship in Waste Management in Multi-tenant Apartment BuildingsThis paper examines the collaborative work of residents, housing associations, and property owners, in a multi-apartment housing complex, to manage household waste. Framed within the feminist ecological perspective of digital environmental stewardship - that is, how diverse actors, motivations, and capacities producing care for the environment that can be digitally mediated - we unpack how the many actors involved work together to keep waste in place, maintain the local waste system, and call on `responsibility' as a means to produce sustainable actions and accountability. We frame these practices of waste management within the mundane work of sociotechnical innovation. Borrowing from Jackson's notion of repair work, we weave together an argument for the novel and valuable contribution to sustainability research of CSCW approaches grounded in the everyday contingent emergencies of environmental care. We argue for approaches to sustainability that reflect the work to maintain sustainability ––not just produce it-- and the `good enough', a locally and reflexively produced equilibrium between maintenance and repair, which can frame the design of sociotechnical interventions mediating practices of waste management.2025CRChiara Rossitto et al.Infrastructure StudiesCSCW
Texergy: Textile-based Harvesting, Storing, and Releasing of Mechanical Energy for Passive On-Body ActuationHumans instinctively manipulate and "actuate" their clothing, for instance, to adapt to the environment or to modify aesthetics. However, such manual actuation remains inflexible and directly tied to user action. We introduce Texergy, a textile-based technical framework that decouples user input and actuated output to make passive on-body actuation interactive and programmable. Texergy achieves this by harvesting energy from user interactions with a set of input modules, storing it mechanically on the body in elastic materials, later releasing the energy on demand, and finally connecting to output end-effectors that realize the actuation. We present a fabrication approach based on almost entirely textile materials using laser-cutting and simple manual assembly to enable integration into clothing and easy prototyping. We report the results of technical experiments and provide a design tool to support customizing the actuation’s force and distance, type of harvesting, and deployment of Texergy mechanisms. We practically demonstrate the capabilities of Texergy with four applications, including a quick-release belt, a passive exosuit with dynamic assistance, a haptic feedback top powered by implicit user actions in VR, and a dance-driven shape-changing costume.2025YJYu Jiang et al.Force Feedback & Pseudo-Haptic WeightHaptic WearablesShape-Changing Interfaces & Soft Robotic MaterialsUIST
DxHF: Providing High-Quality Human Feedback for LLM Alignment with Interactive DecompositionHuman preferences are widely used to align large language models (LLMs) through methods such as reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF). However, the current user interfaces require annotators to compare text paragraphs, which is cognitively challenging when the texts are long or unfamiliar. This paper contributes by studying the decomposition principle as an approach to improving the quality of human feedback for LLM alignment. This approach breaks down the text into individual claims instead of directly comparing two long-form text responses. Based on the principle, we build a novel user interface DxHF. It enhances the comparison process by showing decomposed claims, visually encoding the relevance of claims to the conversation and linking similar claims. This allows users to skim through key information and identify differences for better and quicker judgment. Our technical evaluation shows evidence that decomposition generally improves feedback accuracy regarding the ground truth, particularly for users with uncertainty. A crowdsourcing study with 160 participants indicates that using DxHF improves feedback accuracy by an average of 5%, although it increases the average feedback time by 18 seconds. Notably, accuracy is significantly higher in situations where users have less certainty. The finding of the study highlights the potential of HCI as an effective method for improving human-AI alignment.2025DSDanqing Shi et al.Human-LLM CollaborationExplainable AI (XAI)UIST
SPAT: Situational Prosocial and Aggressive Behavior Perception in Traffic ScaleAutomated vehicles (AVs) reached technological maturity and will soon arrive on streets as traffic participants. Human traffic participants such as drivers, pedestrians, or cyclists will be increasingly confronted with the presence of AVs within their environment, not necessarily knowing or understanding what to expect and how to interact with them. Although AVs are designed to act safely, effective interaction in mixed traffic scenarios will depend on successful communication, interaction, or even negotiation beyond static rules and regulations. Prosocial behavior, such as yielding one's right of way, will be needed to resolve unclear traffic situations or foster traffic flow. However, what are the characteristics of such prosocial behavior, and how to measure this not only for automated vehicles but for all road users? Here, we describe a new scale to measure perceived social behavior in urban traffic scenarios. Through an online survey on \textit{N} = 318 individuals and a validation study, we developed the Situational Prosocial and Aggressive Behavior in Traffic Scale and assessed it psychometrically.2025HİHatice Şahin İppoliti et al.Teleoperated DrivingV2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) Communication DesignAI-Assisted Decision-Making & AutomationAutoUI
Designing for Secondary Users of Intimate TechnologiesDigital contraceptives are intimate technologies that support their users, and their partners, in preventing pregnancy. These technologies rely on basal body temperature data to predict ovulation and calculate a fertile window, where there is a risk of pregnancy if partners have unprotected sex. Although their use is shared and relational, these technologies are mainly designed for a primary user — the person who can become pregnant. We turn our attention to secondary users of digital contraception (i.e., sexual partners), specifically, Natural Cycles. We investigate how secondary users are designed for and how primary users imagine them to be. We contribute empirical insights on how secondary users are and are not involved in digital contraception and conclude with three design proposals describing how digital contraception tools could be designed to involve secondary users. We discuss how designing for secondary users of intimate technologies requires balancing their potential as co-users and adversaries.2025AOAlejandra Gómez Ortega et al.Reproductive & Women's HealthEmpowerment of Marginalized GroupsDIS