Interactive voice response: Review of studies 1989–2000

Abstract

A systematicreview of the use of interactive voice response (IVR) was conducted. IVR is a telephone interviewing technique in which the human speaker is replaced by a high-quality recorded interactive script to which the respondent provides answers by pressing the keys of a touch telephone (touchphone). IVR has numerous advantages, including economy, autonomy, confidentiality, access to certain population groups, improved data quality, standardized interviewing, multilingual interfaces, and detailed longitudinal assessments. Despite this, there have been few applications of IVR. Previous studies have been in the areas of information services, reminder calls, monitoring, assessment, experimentation, interventions, and surveys. Areas that have received little attention have been the systematic evaluation of voice, multilingual interfaces, touchphone prevalence, survey response rates, use by the elderly, and acceptability.

Feasibility of an Interactive Voice Response Tool for Adolescent Assault Victims

“…IVR technology has been shown to be an affordable and effective tool for research studies in an adult population. 18 In our study, the cost of the entire IVR system was $2,500. Pediatric patients have demonstrated capability comparable to adults in using this technology with success.…”

“…This technology has demonstrated promise in obtaining sensitive information from adults and adolescents. [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] IVR also has the potential to decrease the work burden on research staff, offer subjects enhanced confidentiality, and most importantly, allow subjects to initiate the contact within their own busy schedules rather than on the researchers' schedules.…”

The E-Coach technology-assisted care transition system: a pragmatic randomized trial

“…Technologies, including interactive voice response systems (IVR), could efficiently conduct proactive monitoring, thereby reducing effort required by nurse coaches. In IVR systems, human voice is replaced by an interactive, recorded script which respondents provide answers to by pressing keys on the touchpad of a phone [14]. IVRs have demonstrated some efficacy in chronic disease management, including screening, preventive services, and medication adherence [15][16][17].…”

Interactive Voice Response and web-based questionnaires for population-based infectious disease reporting

“…But since the Internet is not available to the entire population, supplementary technologies could potentially be used to improve population coverage and response rates. Interactive Voice Response (IVR), available through both landline and mobile telephones, can be used for short questionnaires (10)(11)(12). Availability of telephone-based interviews as a supplement to the web has been shown to boost response rates (13).…”