Research Interests
I am extremely excited about my current research. My masters thesis investigates two factors of voice that we are manipulating in an IVR -- gender and personality. We are examining if these voice formulations elicit different ratings from users for an IVR currently utilized in the medical community. This would have direct impact on patient care, and it bears potential generalization to the overall usability of IVRs. I have been recording the voices of individuals to find our baseline voice differentials, constructing questionnaires, and building a modified version of the IVR for use in our laboratory with some really interesting software. We hope to investigate the impact of these voices on IVRs outside of the medical arena, as well.
Sebastian Thomas and I also have two other projects in the works that focus on small-screen devices. First, we are researching auditory feedback to enhance performance on devices where tactile feedback is lacking. Also, we are examining text messaging performance for novices based on anthropometry, digit utilized, and device orientation for the iPhone.