ABSTRACT
The design of a speech user interface (SUI, also called voice user interface, or VUI) is not easy. As shown in Figure 1.1, effective SUI design for interactive voice response (IVR) applications-the applications that enterprises use to provide phone-based customer service-rests on three major foundational bodies of knowledge. Without speech technologies, of course, there would be no need for SUI design. Human factors engineering provides the philosophy and methods to design with an understanding of the interactions between humans and the other elements of a system, making systems compatible with the needs, abilities, and limitations of people (Lewis, 2011; Wickens, Lee, Liu, & Gordon-Becker, 2004). Of particular importance to the design of systems that provide customer service is the emerging discipline of service science (Spohrer & Maglio, 2008) and especially its subdiscipline of market research in the characteristics of successful self-service technologies (Bitner, Ostrom, & Meuter, 2002).
