The Elements of Voice First Style

Chapter 4. The Three Core Characteristics of the VUI

Although automatic speech recognition has made significant strides in the last few years, it remains an imperfect technology that has earned the skepticism of human users. But what is truly at fault is not any technology in itself but the misuse of that technology. The voice user interface (VUI) is a powerful interface in well-defined circumstances and use cases. Deploy a VUI in the right conditions and you will have a truly delighted user. Attempt to use voice in the wrong conditions (e.g., the task is complex and requires referring to multiple pieces of information; noisy environment; the user is hard of hearing; the interface asks the user confusing, long-winded questions) and the result is at the very least an irritated user.

A common misconception the novice VUI designer often suffers from is the belief that designing a VUI consists of taking a graphical user interface (GUI) and “simplifying it” and then giving it a voice. After all, while only a very small minority of people can claim some visual talent (e.g., drawing), the vast majority of us can safely claim to be expert conversationalists—or at least competent enough to design a simple interaction between a human being and a computer. So, often, especially in situations where a successful visual/tactile interface has already been deployed, a big mistake is made: the people who designed the GUI are tasked with delivering a “voice version” of that experience.

As we will ...