Portable smart speakers with wireless connections have in recent years become more popular. These speakers are often moved to new locations and placed in different positions in different rooms, which affects the sound a listener is hearing from the speaker. These speakers usually have microphones on them, typically used for voice recording. This thesis aims to provide a way to compensate for the speaker position’s effect on the sound (so called room correction) using the microphones on the speaker and the speaker itself. Firstly, the room frequency response is estimated for several different speaker positions in a room. The room frequency response is the frequency response between the speaker and the listener. From these estimates, the relationship between the speaker’s position and the room frequency response is modeled. Secondly,an algorithm that estimates the speaker’s position is developed. The algorithm estimates the position by detecting reflections from nearby walls using the microphones on the speaker. The acquired position estimates are used as input for the room frequency response model, which makes it possible to automatically apply room correction when placing the speaker in new positions. The room correction is shown to correct the room frequency response so that the bass has the same power as the mid- and high frequency sounds from the speaker, which is according to the research aim. Also, the room correction is shown to make the room frequency response vary less with respect to the speaker’s position.

Smart speakers are a category of smart devices with a built-in voice assistant and a variety of specialized sensors. Introducing these devices into our homes has proven to be a potential privacy threat to the unaware user because of its “microphone always on” nature. The smart speaker provides convenience at the cost of personal information being shared with the company who built the product. In this paper we introduce our readers to smart speaking devices, their management of personal information and its privacy implications. Firstly, with our literature review, we dig deeper into the current understanding of smart speakers, data management, general opinions and awareness. Secondly, we conclude a survey by means of a questionnaire where we discover the opinions of residents in Blekinge county, southern Sweden, towards smart speakers management of personal data in order to evaluate the general position of said residents towards these devices with the hopes to bring added value and understanding to the current research and to give additional information that can be useful by smart speakers manufacturers in terms of the user experience. We find that there is low demand for the product in Blekinge, that sensitive information is unlikely to be shared knowingly by the user and that an IT background doesn’t have a large impact on the opinion or interest of the user.

The online retail environment is expanding, enhancing the possibilities for customers to shop online. On the one hand, a proliferation of online channels establishes a multichannel online retailing landscape, which offers customers more alternatives in terms of where to shop online. On the other hand, a change in the user interaction mode of existing customer touchpoints, from graphics to voice, creates new voice dialog interfaces, which enhance the way with regard to how customers can shop online. In this context, this publication-based dissertation aims to generate theoretical and practical contributions on these two most recent developments in online retailing, i.e., multichannel online retailing and voice dialog interfaces, to improve marketing mix decision-making.