Design and development of eyes- and hands-free voice interface for mobile phone

Abstract

This paper describes the design and development process of our new eyes- and hands-free interface which provides the fundamental functions of a mobile phone by voice interaction through a Bluetooth headset. We first identify four conditions which must be met in order to make the interface acceptable to Japanese users. Next, we define design guides which address each of these conditions. In accordance with the design guides, we propose and implement the interface system. To assess the effectiveness of the proposed interface, we had participants operate a mobile phone while walking while simultaneously confirming a switching signal which either permitted or forbade them to walk. The experimental results showed that the proposed interface was more effective than the conventional interfaces for operating a mobile phone while simultaneously performing other tasks. The participants pointed out some problems during the interviews, and we address these problems. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.