Correlation between rapid learnability and user preference in IVR systems for developing regions

Abstract

Access to information and communication is one of the most important needs in any population group. It is generally challenging for people in the developing world to access information because the tools and the technologies used to access information are prohibitively expensive and also require training prior to operating such tools. This restrains those who are either poor, illiterate, or without computer skills from accessing information. We carried out two case studies of contrasting Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems. The research compared the users' choice of interaction modality between Dual-Tone Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) and speech-enabled IVR modalities and correlated the results with learnability of the different modalities in the milieu of the two systems. The targeted users are oral users of Southern Africa with diverse literacy levels but nevertheless numerically literate and accustomed to the telephone.