Improving the Usability of Voice User Interfaces: A New Set of Ergonomic Criteria

Abstract

Technological progress has made possible to create voice user interfaces that feel more natural, as smart speakers notably show. As those develop, issues of usability have also been spotted that underline the fact that the way we are used to designing interfaces do not apply directly to voice inter-actions. Since heuristic and ergonomic criteria are the first way designers can improve their interfaces, we propose a new set of criteria for VUIs, based for the first time on an extensive review of academic and professional guidelines, and plugged into existing general heuristics. These criteria underline the need for VUIs to make up for the lack of visual cues, to take into account the social nature of conversations, as well as the need to own the fact that talking objects will be interpreted as full characters with a personality, and therefore need to be designed as such.

Keywords: Ergonomic Criteria, Heuristic Evaluation, Voice User Interface, Conversational Agent, Usability