Displayless Interface Access to Spatial Data: Effects on Speaker Prosodics
Abstract
Displayless interface technology provides speech based access to computer programs for which visual access is not possible. These applications are increasingly prevalent, especially in situations requiring mobility, such as navigational applications, both civilian and military. To ensure the successful deployment of this technology, however, many human factor issues must be addressed. In particular, the nonvisual nature of this technology requires that it address a problem common to that of providing graphical user interface access to users with visual impairments, i.e., verbal presentation of spatial data. This research investigated a hypothesis rooted in the assumption that strictly verbal access to spatial data places a cognitive burden on the user. The prosodics, or nonverbal aspects, of human speech have been established in the literature as an indicator of cognitive stress. Therefore, this research examined the hypothesis that the cognitive burden placed on the user by displayless access to spatial data would impact the prosodics of the user's speech. Although the hypothesis was assumed to apply to all users, regardless of visual capability, differences in the manifestation of the impact on users with visual impairments versus sighted users were anticipated. Thus, both subjects with and without visual impairments participated in the research. The hypothesis was tested by conducting experiments in which user speech interactions with a prototype speech based navigational system were recorded, postprocessed, and analyzed for prosodic content Subjects participated in two sessions, one using a speech based, displayless interface, and a second using a multimodal interface that included either a visual or tactile display. Subjects with visual impairments included both persons with adventitious as well as congenital sight loss.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA354184
Entities
People
- Julia A. Baca