Researchers examine how characteristics of automated voice systems affect users' experience
2012-09-22
(Press-News.org) The personality and gender of the automated voices you hear when calling your credit card company or receiving directions from your GPS navigational system may have an unconscious effect on your perception of the technology. Human factors/ergonomics researchers have studied how the gender and tone selected for an interactive voice response system, or IVR, affects its user-friendliness and will present their findings at the upcoming HFES 56th Annual Meeting in Boston.
IVRs have become increasingly popular, particularly with the introduction of mobile technology such as Apple Siri and Iris for Android. Past studies have indicated that users are more responsive to actual human voices than to computer-generated voices, but little research has been completed on the role that voice characteristics play in user perceptions of the technology.
In their upcoming Annual Meeting presentation, "He Says, She Says: Does Voice Affect Usability?" Rochelle Edwards and Philip Kortum conducted a study in which participants interacted with a medical IVR that collected information about their health. Users responded to both male and female voices that spoke in different tones – upbeat, professional, or sympathetic - and then were asked to judge the system's usability.
"We have been systematically looking at what affects user performance on IVRs for some time now," said Kortum. "Voice is the major element in an IVR interface, as graphical elements are for a Web page, and this study was a first attempt to understand the impact voice might have on the perceived usability of such systems."
The authors found that although IVRs with male voices tended to be perceived as more usable than those with female voices, they were not considered more trustworthy. The researchers encourage designers to take voice characteristics into consideration when developing future systems.
"Anyone who uses an IVR knows how frustrating they can be," continues Kortum. "Much of this frustration stems from poorly designed IVRs, not from the form of interface being intrinsically 'bad.' This research shows that some simple modifications to the design of these systems can have an impact on the usability of voice interfaces."
###
For more information on this and other research being presented at the HFES Annual Meeting, contact Lois Smith (lois@hfes.org) or Cara Quinlan (cara@hfes.org; 310/394-1811).
The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society is the world's largest nonprofit individual-member, multidisciplinary scientific association for human factors/ergonomics professionals, with more than 4,600 members globally. HFES members include psychologists and other scientists, designers, and engineers, all of whom have a common interest in designing systems and equipment to be safe and effective for the people who operate and maintain them. Watch science news stories about other HF/E topics at the HFES Web site. "Human Factors and Ergonomics: People-Friendly Design Through Science and Engineering"
Plan to attend the HFES 56th Annual Meeting, October 22-26: https://www.hfes.org//Web/HFESMeetings/2012annualmeeting.html
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2012-09-22
Why do many heavy smokers evade lung cancer while others who have never lit up die of the disease? The question has vexed scientists for decades.
Now, new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests a key immune cell may play a role in lung cancer susceptibility. Working in mice, they found evidence that the genetic diversity in natural killer cells, which typically seek out and destroy tumor cells, contributes to whether or not the animals develop lung cancer.
The research is published in September in Cancer Research.
"Overall, humans ...
2012-09-22
DNA sequencing is the driving force behind key discoveries in medicine and biology. For instance, the complete sequence of an individual's genome provides important markers and guidelines for medical diagnostics and healthcare. Up to now, the major roadblock has been the cost and speed of obtaining highly accurate DNA sequences. While numerous advances have been made in the last 10 years, most current high-throughput sequencing instruments depend on optical techniques for the detection of the four building blocks of DNA: A, C, G and T. To further advance the measurement ...
2012-09-22
NOAA's GOES satellite captured Tropical Storm Nadine in the eastern Atlantic, another low pressure area forming in the central Atlantic, and a developing low in the eastern Pacific. NASA's TRMM satellite noticed that the storms around Nadine's center were waning.
On Sept. 21 at 7:45 a.m. EDT, NOAA's GOES-13 satellite captured an image of Tropical Storm Nadine in the eastern Atlantic, and a developing low in the central Atlantic. Nadine is south of the frontal boundary draped across the Azores islands. NOAA's GOES-13 satellite sits in a fixed orbit over the eastern U.S. ...
2012-09-22
MELBOURNE, FLA.—Shengyuan Yang, Florida Institute of Technology assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, with graduate student Sang Joo Lee, has published a paper on the first-ever imaging of cells growing on spherical surfaces. The paper is published in the online journal, Review of Scientific Instruments, and will appear later in September in the print version.
The potential biomedical applications of the researchers' technique include new strategies and devices for the early detection and isolation of cancer cells, facilitating new methods of ...
2012-09-22
September 21, 2012 – (BRONX, NY) – The promise of stem cells seems limitless. If they can be coaxed into rebuilding organs, repairing damaged spinal cords and restoring ravaged immune systems, these malleable cells would revolutionize medical treatment. But stem cell research is still in its infancy, as scientists seek to better understand the role of these cells in normal human development and disease.
On Friday, September 14, the Ruth L. and David S. Gottesman Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva ...
2012-09-22
As another tropical storm was forming in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, NASA's Terra satellite was providing forecasters at the Joint Typhoon Warning Center with visible and other data on the storm.
NASA's Terra satellite passed over Tropical Depression 18W before it strengthened into Tropical Storm Jelawat late in the day on Sept. 20, in the Philippine Sea (part of the western North Pacific Ocean basin).
On Sept. 20 at 01:50 UTC, as the depression was strengthening into a tropical storm, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's ...
2012-09-22
A novel blood thinner recently approved by the FDA, dabigatran (Pradaxa), has been rapidly adopted into clinical practice, yet thus far has had little impact on improving treatment rates for atrial fibrillation. This is according to a new study led by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health that examined national trends in oral anticoagulant use. They found that despite rapid adoption of dabigatran for the treatment of atrial fibrillation, a large proportion of patients–two in five–did not receive oral anticoagulant therapy. In addition, although ...
2012-09-22
SEATTLE – A simple three-question paper-and-pencil survey, given to women in the doctor's office in less than two minutes, can effectively identify those who are experiencing symptoms that may indicate ovarian cancer, according to a study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The study represents the first evaluation of an ovarian cancer symptom-screening tool in a primary care setting among normal-risk women as part of their routine medical-history assessment. The results are published online in the Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Early ...
2012-09-22
Naked mole-rats evolved to thrive in an acidic environment that other mammals, including humans, would find intolerable. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago report new findings as to how these rodents have adapted to this environment.
The study was published online this week on PLOS ONE.
In the tightly crowded burrows of the African naked mole-rats' world, carbon dioxide builds up to levels that would be toxic for other mammals, and the air becomes highly acidic. These animals freely tolerate these unpleasant conditions, says Thomas Park, professor ...
2012-09-22
Hair; for many women it is a defining factor of their looks. We spend hours washing, combing, styling, cutting, dying, and working it every which way to get the look we want. It is a source of expression and feminine pride and it is something that is uniquely ours.
Unfortunately for many women, hair loss is a common and upsetting issue. Watching something so special and unique fall out before your very eyes can be painful and can hurt a woman's self-esteem and confidence. This loss of confidence can lead to other issues such as depression and anxiety.
As a women ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Researchers examine how characteristics of automated voice systems affect users' experience