Who, Why and How Often? Key Elements for the Design of a Successful Speech Application Taking Account of the Target Groups

Three questions have to be answered before designing a speech application: who will use it, why will they use it and how often will they use it? A designer needs answers to all of these questions to best be able to address the needs of the target group. This chapter will outline a methodical procedural model which describes the workflow required to build a speech application that is properly designed for its target groups. The workflow covers the analysis of requirements, specification, implementation, production, delivery and operation. This chapter also provides an overview of the most important information we need to describe a voice user interface, and where this information can be found. It also provides an overview of current and future technical developments in the field of speech processing and their relevance for the design of dialogues in future. We will then recommend 11 design features which, according to our experience, help the designer of a voice user interface to exploit knowledge about the user and to focus the design of the dialogue on the user’s abilities, their competence, expectations and needs.