In this paper, we propose a new methodology for designing dialogue managers in telephone-based spoken dialogue systems. This methodology comprises five steps: database analysis, design by intuition, design by observation, simulation and iterative improvement. At each step, several measures to evaluate the designing alternatives are presented. We introduce confidence measures in recognition to define an efficient confirmation strategy in each case. The use of user-modeling techniques adapts the system to the user ability. This methodology is applied for designing a telephone-based system that provides rail travel information for the main Spanish intercity connections, including timetables, simulated fares and reservations. With 30 users completing 4 scenarios, the average duration for a fully automatic call is 204 seconds. The users validated the applicability and usability of the system with a global score of 3.9 (out of 5).
Cite as: San-Segundo, R., Montero, J.M., Colás, J., Gutiérrez, J., Ramos, J.M., Pardo, J.M. (2001) Methodology for dialogue design in telephone-based spoken dialogue systems: a Spanish train information system. Proc. 7th European Conference on Speech Communication and Technology (Eurospeech 2001), 2165-2168, doi: 10.21437/Eurospeech.2001-510
@inproceedings{sansegundo01_eurospeech,
author={R. San-Segundo and J. M. Montero and J. Colás and J. Gutiérrez and J. M. Ramos and Juan M. Pardo},
title={{Methodology for dialogue design in telephone-based spoken dialogue systems: a Spanish train information system}},
year=2001,
booktitle={Proc. 7th European Conference on Speech Communication and Technology (Eurospeech 2001)},
pages={2165--2168},
doi={10.21437/Eurospeech.2001-510}
}