Discreet SOS

To protect intellectual property, I have omitted descriptions of the workflow and details about the research and design process.

Overview 📘

One of my key projects as a UX Designer on the Alexa Human Effects (HFX) team was “Discreet SOS”, a feature designed to enable users to call for help discreetly in emergencies. This project was initiated by the head of the HFX division, who highlighted alarming statistics on personal safety, emphasizing the need for a silent emergency activation method.

The Problem 💢

Currently, calling for emergency assistance requires either:

• Physically holding the phone and dialing emergency services.
• Using voice activation (e.g., "Alexa, call 911").

Both of these methods can be conspicuous and potentially escalate dangerous situations. Echo Buds provide a unique opportunity to introduce a discreet emergency activation method via touch gestures without requiring a phone on-hand.

Research 🔍

Internal research and customer surveys indicated that gesture-activated emergency calls ranked among the most desired safety features for hearables. Additionally, broader research suggested a growing consumer demand for technology to enhance personal safety.

Design 🛠️

To design an effective solution, I established key criteria:

1. One-handed accessibility: Users may have only one bud available or limited mobility.
2. Minimizing false positives: Accidental activations should be avoided to prevent unnecessary distress or dispatching emergency services without cause.
3. Reliable emergency response: Users need assurance that their distress signal reaches someone who can help.

Gesture Interaction
I initially recommended a dedicated SOS gesture to ensure clear intent and avoid conflicts with existing gestures used for media controls. However, the development team was unsure of the technical constraints of adding a new gesture to the existing Echo Buds’ line. I adapted and recommended an existing one-handed gesture that balanced ease of use and low accidental activation risk.

Technical Constraints for Emergency Calling
A major challenge was Alexa’s inability to directly call 911 due to legal and technical restrictions. After diving deep into Amazon’s existing feature set and reaching out to other teams, I found two alternative solutions that ensure that the user’s distress call reaches someone who can help:

1. Alexa Guard Plus: Connects the user with a trained agent who can dispatch emergency services.
2. Emergency Contact Feature: Calls a pre-designated emergency contact who can assess the situation and take appropriate action.

User Flow
I designed the workflow from when Discreet SOS is activated to when an emergency call is initiated. This workflow prioritized ease of activation while providing voice and gesture-based methods of error prevention in case of false positives.

Next Steps 🤔

The findings and workflow I created were incorporated into the product roadmap, allowing engineers and product managers to refine the feature further. Follow-ups I recommended included:

• The development team should create a unique gesture. Investigate whether it can be added to the existing Echo Buds line, and plan to implement it on future iterations.
• Dive deeper into the Alexa’s legal and technical feasibility for direct 911 calling so that the user can get a more reliable emergency response.
• Collaborate with researchers to study user responses under emergency conditions.