“Spindex” (Speech Index) Enhances Menus on Touch Screen Devices with Tapping, Wheeling, and Flicking

Abstract

Users interact with many electronic devices via menus such as auditory or visual menus. Auditory menus can either complement or replace visual menus. We investigated how advanced auditory cues enhance auditory menus on a smartphone, with tapping, wheeling, and flicking input gestures. The study evaluated a spindex (speech index), in which audio cues inform users where they are in a menu; 122 undergraduates navigated through a menu of 150 songs. Study variables included auditory cue type (text-to-speech alone or TTS plus spindex), visual display mode (on or off), and input gesture (tapping, wheeling, or flicking). Target search time and subjective workload were lower with spindex than without for all input gestures regardless of visual display mode. The spindex condition was rated subjectively higher than plain speech. The effects of input method and display mode on navigation behaviors were analyzed with the two-stage navigation strategy model. Results are discussed in relation to attention theories and in terms of practical applications.

Introducing Multimodal Sliding Index: Qualitative Feedback, Perceived Workload, and Driving Performance with an Auditory Enhanced Menu Navigation Method

“…become more familiar with the cues; that has been seen in previous work with these types of cues [8]. In addition, although not meeting the threshold for significance, the result found for longitudinal deviation of a potential interaction being present is nothing to ignore as it points to drivers with the spindex index being potential safer drivers.…”

“…In contrast, structure cues provide enhanced information about where the user is in the menu, including concepts like scroll bars and spindex. The spindex (speech index) cue [6,7,8] is a set of brief sounds that correspond to each menu item, usually comprised of the sound of its first letter [7], thereby giving the user an overview of their location in the list. Both item and structure cue types can work well together, and with TTS.…”

“…Both item and structure cue types can work well together, and with TTS. Such cues afford participants faster search times and lower subjective workloads [5,8]. Research has shown Spindex+TTS can decrease visual time off a primary task while driving, as compared to a visual-only condition [3,9].…”

Rear-Seat Productivity in Virtual Reality: Investigating VR Interaction in the Confined Space of a Car

“…Moreover, an auditory indication for real-world boundaries is comparable to visual indicators with respect to performance in VR [34]. Auditory icons or other natural mappings between objects and sounds might be easy to learn and promise a lower cognitive load due to the user's life-long learning [50,51]. Using auditory indications (e.g., the sound effects of bumping into surfaces ranging from soft to hard) might indicate different levels of proximity towards physical borders.…”

Methodical approaches to prove the effects of subliminal perception in ubiquitous computing environments

“…Regarding the relations between automaticity and the level of attention, similar theories can be found in vision and audition. These pre-attentive processes principles could be, for example, applied to display design in HCI [3].…”