Exploring Human Error Handling Strategies: Implications for Spoken Dialogue Systems

In this study, the user experience and the consequences of different error handling strategies for spoken dialogue are examined. A modification of the Wizard of Oz method is used, where a speech recogniser is included in the setting. This makes it possible to study how humans handle speech recognition errors before a dialogue system is actually built. The results show that wizards tend not to signal non-understanding when they face speech recognition problems, but instead ask task-related questions to confirm the wizard’s hypothesis about the situation, rather than what has been said. This strategy leads to better understanding of subsequent utterances, whereas signalling non-understanding leads to decreased user experience of task success.