Error Handling in Spoken Dialogue Systems August 28-31, 2003 Château d'Oex, Vaud, Switzerland

Exploring Human Error Handling Strategies: Implications for Spoken Dialogue Systems

Gabriel Skantze

Centre for Speech Technology KTH, Stockholm, Sweden

In this study, the user experience and the consequences of different error handling strategies for spoken dialogue are examined. A modification of the Wizard of Oz method is used, where a speech recogniser is included in the setting. This makes it possible to study how humans handle speech recognition errors before a dialogue system is actually built. The results show that wizards tend not to signal non-understanding when they face speech recognition problems, but instead ask task-related questions to confirm the wizard’s hypothesis about the situation, rather than what has been said. This strategy leads to better understanding of subsequent utterances, whereas signalling non-understanding leads to decreased user experience of task success.

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Bibliographic reference.  Skantze, Gabriel (2003): "Exploring human error handling strategies: implications for spoken dialogue systems", In EHSD-2003, 71-76.