Predicting and Managing Spoken Disfluencies During Human-Computer Interaction

This research characterizes the spontaneous spoken disfluencies typical of human-computer interaction, and presents a predictive model accounting for their occurrence. Data were collected during three empirical studies in which people spoke or wrote to a highly interactive simulated system. The studies involved within-subject factorial designs in which input modality and presentation format were varied. Spoken disfluency rates during human-computer interaction were documented to be substantially lower than rates typically observed during comparable human-human speech. Two separate factors, both associated with increased planning demands, were statistically related to increased speech disfluency rates: (1) length of utterance, and (2) lack of structure in the presentation format. Regression techniques revealed that a linear model based simply on utterance length accounts for over 77% of the variability in spoken disfluencies. Therefore, design techniques capable of channeling users...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1994
• Where: NAACL
• Authors: Sharon L. Oviatt
• Keywords: Human-computer Interaction, NAACL 1994, NAACL 2007, Presentation Format, Spoken Disfluencies