A study of out-of-turn interaction in menu-based, IVR, voicemail systems

We present the first user study of out-of-turn interaction in menu-based, interactive voice-response systems. Out-ofturn interaction is a technique which empowers the user (unable to respond to the current prompt) to take the conversational initiative by supplying information that is currently unsolicited, but expected later in the dialog. The technique permits the user to circumvent any flows of navigation hardwired into the design and navigate the menus in a manner which reflects their model of the task. We conducted a laboratory experiment to measure the effect of the use of outof-turn interaction on user performance and preference in a menu-based, voice interface to voicemail. Specifically, we compared two interfaces with the exact same hierarchical menu design: one with the capability of accepting out-ofturn utterances and one without this feature. The results indicate that out-of-turn interaction significantly reduces task completion time, improves usability, and is preferred to...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: CHI
• Authors: Saverio Perugini, Taylor J. Anderson, William F. Moroney
• Keywords: CHI 2007, Human Computer Interaction, Keywords Out-of-turn Interaction, Menu-based Vs, Mixed-initiative Interaction