Experimental evaluation of dialogue styles for hybrid telephone-based interfaces

This paper describes empirical research evaluating dialogue styles used in telephone-based interfaces that incorporate both touch-tone and speech input. Task completion time, selection frequency, proportion of spoken commands, proportion of prompt interruptions, and user preference were obtained for four different dialogue styles. These styles varied with respect to (1) prompt style (whether explicit command information was presented in prompts or not presented in prompts), and (2) presentation order (function stated first versus command information stated first in prompts). Results provide a basis for a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of different dialogue styles and their implications for selecting a preferred style.