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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/L66373/01
Title: PRINCIPLES FOR IMPROVING INTERACTION IN TELEPHONE-BASED INTERFACES
Principal Investigator: Brewster, Professor SA
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Mitel
Department: School of Computing Science
Organisation: University of Glasgow
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 13 October 1997 Ends: 12 October 2000 Value (£): 53,510
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Human-Computer Interactions
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
Telephone-based interfaces (TBIs) are an increasingly important method of interacting with computer systems (such as electronic banking or voice mail). Telephones themselves are also incorporating greater functionality (such as address books and call forwarding). In both cases this extra functionality may be rendered useless if usability is not considered. One common usability problem is users getting lost when navigating through hierarchies of options or functions. This may mean some functions are not used or that users cannot achieve the goals they wish. The innovative aspect of this proposal is to use structured non-speech sounds (such as short pieces of music) to enhance the output of information in TBIs. Sound can present information rapidly without getting in the way of any speech output. I will investigate the use of sound to provide navigation cues to stop users getting lost and also to provide richer output methods to create more flexible interaction techniques. To ensure effectiveness I will perform a full usability evaluation. TBI designers will benefit from this research because guidelines produced will enable them to create more powerful interfaces. End-users will benefit because the resulting telephones and telephone services will be more usable.
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Organisation Website: http://www.gla.ac.uk