The effect of auditory progress bars on consumer's estimation of telephone wait time

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual

2006

Self Cite

TXThis paper examines the results of a study conducted to determine if Auditory Progress Bars consisting of complete songs of varying duration would allow listeners to accurately estimate the amount of time they were on telephone hold, while at the same time producing acceptable customer satisfactions scores. Previous research by the authors has shown that a subset of auditory progress bars consisting of sinusoidal wave forms in different configurations do indeed allow listeners to accurately estimate time, while other configurations did not. However, this research also showed that all of the tonal auditory progress bars had exceptionally low customer satisfaction scores. The current research demonstrates that auditory progress bars comprised of complete songs produce both accurate hold time estimates and high consumer satisfaction scores. Implications for the design of auditory progress bars and directions for further research are discussed.

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Exploration of the use of Complete Songs as Auditory Progress Bars

Kortum

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual

2006

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“…The APBs used were: Sine, Cello and Electronic. They were the same as those used by Kortum et al (2005). All were 120 seconds in duration that increased in pitch with time.…”

Section: Stimuli Apparatus and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Estimations of elapsed durations are more accurate when listening to stimuli decreasing in pitch over time as opposed to stimuli increasing in pitch over time (Kortum et al 2007;Kortum et al 2006). Judgments of elapsed durations are more accurate when listening to stimuli of longer durations as opposed to stimuli of shorter durations; furthermore, the elapsed durations of shorter stimuli are more likely to be overestimated as opposed to stimuli longer in duration (Kortum, Peres, Knott, Bushey, 2005;Kortum, 2005, Kortum, Peres 2006. Businesses have interest in avoiding the former type of stimuli because of the negative correlation between telephone hold time and customer satisfaction (Kortum et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Auditory Progress Bars: The effects of Feedback, Endpoint and Free Response on Estimations of Time Remaining

García

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual

2012

Auditory Progress Bars (APB) are non-speech auditory displays that indicate the status and progress of ongoing tasks. In on-hold telephone settings they may provide the caller with a means of estimating when their call will be answered. Here, participants used three distinct APBs to make estimations of the time remaining during a simulated on-hold wait. The benefits of feedback and hearing the APB’s endpoint on estimating time remaining were examined. Evidence is found that the accuracy of estimations differs by APB type and that feedback on initial estimations increases accuracy on later estimations. Knowing the APBs endpoint does not appear to increase the accuracy of estimating the time remaining in fixed intervals.

“…The total pitch range extended from 100Hz to 1700Hz, with each tone having a 100Hz linear increase over its 1500ms duration. See Kortum, Peres, Knott & Bushey (2005) for a complete description.…”

Section: Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental Workload Measures of Auditory Stimuli Heard during Periods of Waiting

Kortum

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual

Stallmann

2010

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A study of 105 university students examined whether the length or type of Auditory Progress Bar (APB) used in a telephone on-hold situation had an impact on users' subjective mental workload. Auditory cues can be designed into APBs to provide information to the caller regarding the approximate duration of the hold time. Previous research has found that the majority of callers tend to multi-task during on-hold situations. Thus the design of any stimuli presented while the caller is on hold should take this into account. To do this, it is important for designers to understand how APB design might impact callers' mental workloads. In the current study, participants experienced one of three APB design types (cello, sine, electronic) in four different lengths (30, 60, 120 and 240 seconds). An on-hold call center experience was simulated using a computer-generated interactive voice response system and workload data was collected using the NASA-TLX. The results of this study indicate that the type of APB does not appear to have a significant impact on callers' assessment of mental workload, but that the duration of the stimuli does.