February 2000
Beginner to intermediate
406 pages
8h 5m
English
Content preview from Designing Effective Speech Interfaces
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Errors
Being error-prone, current speech technology is very much a matter of dealing with errors. One of the roles of the interface is to help reduce the number and severity of the errors the user can make, as well as to help mitigate the effects of the errors the computer can make.
Use Specific Error Messages
Error messages should be specific and tell the user exactly what to say or do. An inadequate error message either gives no information (“An error has occurred”) or merely repeats a command. Consider the following exchange between a computer and a user:
System: “Say the departure date.”
User: “Tomorrow.”
System: “Say the departure date.”
User: “I want to travel tomorrow.”
System: “Say the departure date.”
The user does not know what response the system wants and the system is not providing helpful or new information. An adequate error message tells the user what is wrong, why, and how to correct it. An example of this is shown in the following improved exchange:
An adequate error message tells the user what is wrong and why, and how to correct it.
System: “Say the departure date.”
User: “Tomorrow.”
System: “I do not understand that date. Say the month, date, and year. For example, say October 13th, 1999.”
User: “July 1st, 1999.”
In this example the system indicated that it did not understand the user's initial response and provided a specific format for a reply.
Limit Background Noise
Background noise leads to an increase in insertion errors. The computer thinks the ...
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