Effects of Prolonged Use on the Usability of a Multimodal Form-Filling Interface
We present a study of the effect of prolonged use on the way users interact with a multimodal form-filling system. The system accepts spoken input as well as pointing input and provides output both in speech and in graphics. We measured the usability of t
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Jacques Terken, Use Bakx TU Eindhoven, Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven, The Netherlands [email protected]
Abstract
We present a study of the effect of prolonged use on the way users interact with a multimodal form-filling system. The system accepts spoken input as well as pointing input and provides output both in speech and in graphics. We measured the usability of the system in a pre-test / post-test design and analysed in detail the changes in interaction patterns due to exposure. The study shows that with practice users learn to develop interaction patterns that ensure reliable and efficient interaction, resulting in decreased dialogue duration and more user satisfaction.
Keywords:
Dialogue management; Multimodal interaction; Speech/pen-based interaction; Usability evaluation.
1.
Introduction
With the emergence of networked handheld devices, it has become possible to provide information services on mobile terminals that were up to now only available on desktop computers. However, interaction styles that are natural and easy to use on a desktop computer may easily become cumbersome on miniaturised devices like palmtops or mobile phones. Whereas typing or pointing on a screen in general may feel as a natural way to provide input on a desktop computer, with small devices typing and pointing may easily become 329 W. Minker, D. Bühler andL. Dybkjær (eds), Spoken Multimodal Human-Computer Dialogue in Mobile Environments, 329-348 © 2005 Springer. Printed in the Netherlands
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SPOKEN MULTIMODAL HUMAN-COMPUTER DIALOGUE
tiresome due to the absence of hardware keyboards and the inherent limitations on the length of menus. In order to fully exploit the capabilities of handheld devices, an obvious solution seems to be to deploy multimodal interfaces. It is generally assumed that combining elements of graphical user interfaces and spoken dialogue systems will enable users to interact with mobile terminals in a more efficient and natural way (Maybury and Wahlster, 1998; Oviatt et al., 1997). However, it does not follow automatically that a multimodal interface will enable users to interact in the most efficient way right from the beginning. Instead, users may need practice to develop a stable interaction pattern that supports efficient use (Petrelli et al., 1997). In the present study we investigate the effect of prolonged use on the development of stable and efficient interaction patterns, using a multimodal form-filling interface for obtaining train timetable information that was developed in the MATIS project (Multimodal Access to Transaction and Information Services) (Sturm et al., 2001). The interface accepts both speech-based and pointing input and provides spoken as well as visual feedback. Sturm et al. (2002) report the results of a usability evaluation of the multimodal MATIS interface. The goal of the evaluation study was to determine whether providing multiple modalities helps to improve the usability of the system as compared to more conventional unimodal systems, such as a spoken dialogue
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