Automated speech recognition (ASR) applications - you speak naturally, and a computer system both understands what you say and answers intelligently, as opposed to touch-tone phone systems - are poised to grow at a phenomenal pace, from about a $120 million business today to more than $2 billion in 2006. We all increaslingly experience such applications when we telephone airlines, banks, and other consumer companies for information. Key to the success of all these applications is the design and development of effective voice user interfaces (VUIs.) This book shows how to design, deploy, and assess VUIs. The author team from Nuance, one of the two market leaders, includes a computer scientist, a psychologist, and a linguist, reflecting the broad range of expertise required for such work. The book itself combines discussion of essential VUI design principles and practical methodology with real-world examples of good design. It should become the standard reference to VUI design.

This book is a comprehensive and authoritative guide to voice user interface (VUI) design. The VUI is perhaps the most critical factor in the success of any automated speech recognition (ASR) system, determining whether the user experience will be satisfying or frustrating, or even whether the customer will remain one. This book describes a practical methodology for creating an effective VUI design. The methodology is scientifically based on principles in linguistics, psychology, and language technology, and is illustrated here by examples drawn from the authors' work at Nuance Communications, the market leader in ASR development and deployment.

The book begins with an overview of VUI design issues and a description of the technology. The authors then introduce the major phases of their methodology. They first show how to specify requirements and make high-level design decisions during the definition phase. They next cover, in great detail, the design phase, with clear explanations and demonstrations of each design principle and its real-world applications. Finally, they examine problems unique to VUI design in system development, testing, and tuning. Key principles are illustrated with a running sample application.

A companion Web site provides audio clips for each example: www.VUIDesign.org

The cover photograph depicts the first ASR system, Radio Rex: a toy dog who sits in his house until the sound of his name calls him out. Produced in 1911, Rex was among the few commercial successes in earlier days of speech recognition. Voice User Interface Design reveals the design principles and practices that produce commercial success in an era when effective ASRs are not toys but competitive necessities.