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arXiv · 2608.19527

Does Listening Matter? Backchanneling and Nodding in AI Clone

Koji Inoue·Kazushi Kato·Tatsuya Kawahara·Shunichi Kasahara
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Abstract

AI clones that imitate a specific person typically reproduce what the person says and how they sound, but not how they listen. We investigate whether adding multimodal listening behaviors gives such a clone more presence and authenticity. We integrated verbal backchannels and head nodding, driven by real-time prediction models, into an AI clone equipped with voice cloning and LLM-based responses. In a within-subjects study (N=35), adding these behaviors significantly improved the perceived attentiveness of the avatar, the sense of talking with the real person, and the feeling of co-presence. These results indicate that AI clone fidelity should extend beyond voice and response content to include interactive listening behavior.

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Koji Inoue, Kazushi Kato, Tatsuya Kawahara, Shunichi Kasahara. 2026-08-20. Does Listening Matter? Backchanneling and Nodding in AI Clone. https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.19527

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