Analysis and modeling of next speaking start timing based on gaze behavior in multi-party meetings

To realize a conversational interface where an agent system can smoothly communicate with multiple persons, it is imperative to know how the start timing of speaking is decided. In this research, we demonstrate a relationship between gaze transition patterns and the start timing of next speaking against the end of the last speaking in multi-party meetings. Then, we construct a prediction model for the start timing using gaze transition patterns near the end of an utterance. An analysis of data collected from natural multi-party meetings reveals a strong relationship between gaze transition patterns of the speaker, next speaker, and listener and the start timing of the next speaker. On the basis of the results, we used gaze transition patterns of the speaker, next speaker, and listener and mutual gaze as variables, and devised several prediction models. A model using all features performed the best and was able to predict the start timing well.