Natural Language Systems ITCS 6010 Natural Language Systems

Overview Welcome to ITCS 6010 Syllabus Introduction

Syllabus Syllabus

Good Design (our goal!) “Every designer wants to build a high-quality interactive system that is admired by colleagues, celebrated by users, circulated widely, and imitated frequently.” (Shneiderman, 1992, p.7) …and anything goes!…

What is an interface? An interface refers to the part of technology that people interact with Interactions include information transfer: From user to computer From computer to user

Interaction Components Interaction hardware include: Keyboard, mouse, stylus, keypad, microphone Interaction software include: Window, page, sound, talking voice

What is a ‘well-designed’ interface? Depends on your perspective…… Examples: For a programmer – works within technical constraints of project For a usability engineer – designed with particular user group in mind For a user – works the way expected

Types of Interfaces Character-based user interface (CHUI) Graphical user interface (GUI) Web user interface (WUI) Speech user interfaces (SUI) Auditory user interface (AUI) Graphical user interface with speech (S/GUI) Voice user interface (VUI)

Speech User Interface A software interface that employs speech Human speech Simulated human speech

Auditory User Interfaces An Auditory user interface (AUI) is an interface which relies primarily or exclusively on audio for interaction, including speech and sound. (Weinschenk & Barker 2000) Examples: Hands-free automobile navigational system Interactive voice response system (IVR) like automated payment center Products for visually impaired

Auditory User Interfaces Natural Language/Speech User Interfaces Conversation is natural Multimodal User Interfaces Combines voice, text, graphics, gestures, keypad, stylus, etc. into one interface

Graphical User Interface with Speech (S/GUI) Multimodal interface that involves speech and a GUI Examples: Voice activated calling on cell phone Dictation software that allows text entered via text, speech or both

Graphical User Interface with Non-Speech Audio Interface that includes non-verbal audio Earcons – auditory icons/sounds that communicate information Examples: System beeps when user makes an error System knocks when someone wants to chat

Multimodal User Interfaces Simultaneous Multimodality Multiple modes at the same time, voice-visual Sequential Multimodality Uses multiple modes sequentially and seamlessly

Voice User Interface A voice user interface (or VUI) is what a person interacts with when communicating with a spoken language application. (Cohen et al, 2004)

Why a VUI? Characteristics that favor VUI: Hands-busy situation No keyboard, mouse, stylus available Disablilties Context-specific, command driven application

But What Makes a Good VUI? Functionality Speed & efficiency Reliability, security, data integrity Standardization, consistency USABILITY !

Closer to Fine: A Philosophy …The human user of any system is the focus of the design process. Planning and implementation is done with the user in mind, and the system is made to fit the user, not the other way around…. Bruce Walker Georgia Institute of Technology

How Do You Know It’s Good?! Usability Test and Evaluation

Human Factors in Speech

Human Factors in Speech High Error Rates Speech recognition Background noise, intonation, pitch, volume Grammars (missing words, size limitations) “When speech recognition becomes genuinely reliable, this will cause another big change in operating systems.” (Bill Gates, The Road Ahead 1995)

Human Factors in Speech Unpredictable Errors Grammars Sound alike words Austin-Boston Missing words Grammar size limitations Note: We do not like using unpredictable machines.

Human Factors in Speech User Expectations Novice users have high expectations of computers and speech Natural language Novices expect to say “anything” to the machine i.e. Star Trek Spoken language differs from written language. i.e. ums or uhs appear in spoken language

Human Factors in Speech Memory Speech only systems can be taxing on human memory, i.e. large telephone menu systems. Miller - 7 plus or minus 2

Definitions and Terms

List all the U-N-C Charlotte orders. Speech Recognition List all the U-N-C Charlotte orders. Refers to the technologies that enable computing devices to identify the sound of human voice.

Speech Recognition Continuous Recognition Discrete Recognition Allows a user to speak to the system in an everyday manner without using specific, learned commands. Discrete Recognition Recognizes a limited vocabulary of individual words and phrases spoken by a person.

Speech Recognition Word Spotting Recognizes predefined words or phrases. Used by discrete recognition applications. “Computer I want to surf the Web” “Hey, I would like to surf the Web”

Speech Recognition Voice Verification or Speaker Identification Voice verification is the science of verifying a person's identity on the basis of their voice characteristics. Unique features of a person's voice are digitized and compared with the individual's pre-recorded "voiceprint" sample stored in the database for identity verification. It is different from speech recognition because the technology does not recognize the spoken word itself.

James, here are the U-N-C Charlotte orders. Speech Synthesis Refers to the technologies that enable computing devices to output simulated human speech. James, here are the U-N-C Charlotte orders.

Speech Synthesis Formant Synthesis Uses a set of phonological rules to control an audio waveform that simulates human speech. Sounds like a robot, very synthetic, but getting better.

Speech Synthesis Concatenated Synthesis Uses computer assembly of recorded voice sounds to create meaningful speech output. Sounds very human, most people can’t tell the difference.

Uses of Speech Technologies Interactive Voice Response Systems Call centers Medical, Legal, Business, Commercial, Warehouse Handheld Devices Toys and Education Automobile Industry Universal Access (visual/physical impaired)

Requirements Analysis A E I O U (Y) Artifacts Environment Interaction Outcome User WhY

A Artifacts What are the artifacts? Things Places

E Environments What are the environments? Physical Places of Operation Operating Environments/Systems

I Interactions What are the interactions? Between humans Between machines Between humans and machines

O Outcomes What are the outcomes? Tangible outcomes Intangible outcomes

U Users Who are the users? Customers Clients Developers Users

Y Why? Why are you doing this? Motivation Client User You