Lucent Technologies INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0 Guide

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Designing a Voice Response Application 
Page 4-25 Touch-Tone and Speech Recognition 
4
Touch-Tone and Speech Recognition
Althoug h you mig ht alread y know how to d esig n g ood  touc h-tone ap p lic ations,  
here are some sp ec ial thing s you need  to know that will help you ap p roac h 
sp eec h rec og nition wisely.
Why are the d ifferenc es b etween touc h-tone rec og nition and  sp eec h rec og nition 
so imp ortant?  A suc c essful ap p lic ation takes ad vantag e of the b est asp ec ts of 
speech recognition, while minimizing the flaws.  The following information will 
help  you understand  and ap p rec iate the d ifferenc es b etween touc h-tone 
rec ognition and  sp eec h rec og nition, and  how the tec hnolog ies affec t ap p lic ation 
design.
Recognizer Differences Between Touch-Tone
Input and Spoken Input
The way in whic h the INTUITY CONVERSANT system p rocesses touch-tone inp ut 
and  sp oken inp ut is fund amentally d ifferent, so the ap p lic ation d esig ner must 
take c are to use eac h feature in a way that is tailored  to how c allers will interac t 
with the ap p lic ation.  Tab le 4-2
 c omp ares and  c ontrasts touc h-tone interac tions 
with sp eec h rec og nition interac tions.  The following sec tions then further explain 
what is d ep ic ted  in the tab le.
Table 4-2. Differences Between Touch-Tone Input  and Spoken Input
Possible InputWhat the System 
Can RecognizeHow the System 
Analyzes  the Input Conclusion
One or more tones Touc h-tone sig nals Takes touc h-tone 
sig nals and  map s to 
a numb er on the 
keyp adExc ellent 
mapping 
b etween inp ut 
and  what the 
rec og nizer 
“knows”
Any noise that a 
person can make, 
or any b ac kg round  
noise that c an b e 
heard  over the 
telephoneA set of word 
models restricted by 
g rammarTakes a sp eech 
samp le and  tries to 
matc h it to the ac tive 
word  modelsImperfec t 
mapping 
b etween inp ut 
and  what the 
rec og nizer 
“knows” 
						

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Designing a Voice Response Application 
Page 4-26 Touch-Tone and Speech Recognition 
4
Application Differences Between Touch-Tone
Input and Spoken Input
Supp ose that you are working  on an ap p lic ation that c allers will use to rep ort 
p rob lems with telep hone servic e.  Part of your transac tion involves asking  c allers 
for a telep hone numb er.  For a touc h-tone interac tion, you c ould promp t “ Enter 
your 10-d ig it telep hone numb er.”  The c aller c an do one of three things:  p ress 10 
keys, p ress fewer than 10 keys, or d o nothing.
nIf the c aller presses 10 keys, the ap p lic ation read s b ac k the telep hone 
numb er for c onfirmation:  “ Did  you enter 614-860-4001?”
nIf the c aller presses fewer than 10 keys, the ap p lic ation d etec ts this and  
rep romp ts the c aller for a valid  entry.
nIf the c aller does nothing , the ap p lic ation rec eives no touc h-tones.  When 
this hap p ens, the ap p lic ation c an rep rompt, p roviding  more information.
For a similar sp eec h rec og nition interac tion, you c ould  p romp t, “ Say your 10-dig it 
telep hone numb er.”   The c aller c an say anything  at all in resp onse (word s or 
other sound s) or say nothing .  The rec og nizer listens, then attemp ts to map  the 
sounds to the appropriate grammar (US_DIG, with minimum and maximum digits 
=  10), and  c ome up with a series of d ig its.  No matter what the c aller says, the 
rec ognizer d oes the same thing :  it listens to the sound s c oming  throug h the 
telep hone, and  attemp ts to map  10 d igits, or using  p hrase sc reening , rejec ts the 
utteranc e.
nIf the c aller says 10 d ig its, the rec og nizer tries to map  the sp eec h to 10 
d ig its, then read s b ac k the result for c onfirmation:  “ Did  you say 
614-860-4001?”
nIf the c aller says fewer than 10 d ig its, the rec og nizer attempts to map  the 
sp eec h to 10 d ig its, then read s b ac k the result for c onfirmation:  “ Did you 
say 618-604-0001?”
nIf the c aller remains silent and there is b ac kground or line noise, the 
rec ognizer rejec ts the utteranc e.  The rec og nizer returns a null string to the 
ap plic ation, and  the app lic ation c an rep romp t, g iving  the c aller more 
information.  This is c onsidered  a “ c orrec t rejec tion.”
nIf the c aller says “ I d o not have a p hone numb er yet,”  the rec og nizer 
rejec ts the utteranc e.
What c an b e d one to imp rove the ap p lic ation d esig n in this examp le?  What 
c ould  inc rease the c hanc e that c allers will say what the rec og nizer is p rep ared  to 
ac c ept?  Your ap p lic ation c ould  first ask if the c aller has the req uired  information, 
b y p romp ting : “ Do you have your telep hone numb er available?”   Callers who say 
no c an b e transferred  to the attend ant, while c allers who say yes c an b e 
prompted for the number. 
						

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Designing a Voice Response Application 
Page 4-27 Touch-Tone and Speech Recognition 
4
Touch-Tone Input Used with Spoken Input
You c an use WholeWord  sp eec h rec ognition to allow c allers without touc h-tone 
telep hones to use the voic e resp onse system b y sp eaking  “ yes”  or “ no.”
There are three d ifferent ap p roac hes for p lanning  the app lic ation:
nWrite two, sep arate ap p lic ations that are nearly id entic al; one to p roc ess 
touc h-tone input and  one to p roc ess spoken inp ut
nWrite a sing le ap p lic ation to p roc ess b oth touc h-tone and sp oken inp ut
nMod ify a touc h-tone inp ut ap p lic ation to p roc ess b oth typ es of inp ut
Separate Touch-Tone and Speech Recognition 
Applications
This ap proac h allows you to use p rompts that are b est for touc h-tone entry in one 
ap plic ation and  those that are b est for sp eec h rec og nition entry in the other.
In many c ases, touc h-tone rec og nition may b e more ac c urate and  c ost less than 
sp eec h rec og nition.  Therefore, you p robab ly want c allers with touc h-tone 
telep hones to use their keyp ads to interac t with the ap p lic ation.  To enc ourage 
this, start your ap p lic ation with a 
dial 1 p rompt.  A d ial 1 promp t gives c allers a 
c hanc e to ind ic ate that they have a touc h-tone telep hone, and  help s sp eed  the 
call.
Fig ure 4-2
 illustrates a d ial 1 p rompt in a flowc hart.
Fig ure 4-3
 shows an examp le of the Sc rip t Build er c od e for the d ial 1 p romp t. 
						

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Designing a Voice Response Application 
Page 4-28 Touch-Tone and Speech Recognition 
4
Figure 4-2. Example of a Dial 1 Prompt Flowchart 
						

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Designing a Voice Response Application 
Page 4-29 Touch-Tone and Speech Recognition 
4
start:
Answer Phone
Prompt & Collect
Prompt
Speak with Interrupt
Phrase: 
“You have reached XYZ Technologies.
”
Phrase: 
“If you are calling from a
touch-tone phone...
”
Input
Max Number of Digits: 01
Checklist
Case: 
“Input OK
”
Continue
Case: 
“Initial Timeout
”
Goto sr_script
Case: 
“Too Few Digits
”
Goto sr_script
Case: 
“No More Tries
”
Quit
End Prompt & Collect
touchtone_script:
#put touch-tone application here
sr_script:
#put speech recognition application here
Figure 4-3. Script Builder Code for Dial 1 Prompt 
						

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Designing a Voice Response Application 
Page 4-30 Touch-Tone and Speech Recognition 
4
A Single Touch-Tone and Speech
Recognition Application
An ap plic ation that uses touc h-tone rec og nition and  speec h rec og nition tog ether 
req uires that every p romp t b e ac c ep tab le for b oth entry methods.
!CAUTION:
Use this method  only if your system resourc es c an p roc ess the extra load , 
sinc e many c allers with touc h-tone telep hones may c hoose to use sp eec h 
rec ognition instead .  Rememb er that rec og nition ac c urac y is lower for 
sp oken inp ut than for touc h-tone inp ut.
When using  a sing le ap p lic ation:
1. Struc ture your p romp ts so they g ive c allers the c hoic e of using  the keyp ad  
or sp eaking .
2. At the b eg inning  of the ap p lic ation, tell c allers that entries may b e mad e 
with either the keyp ad  or b y sp eaking .  For examp le, the ap p lic ation mig ht 
say:
“ Welc ome to XYZ Tec hnolog ies.  During  this c all, you c an use your 
telep hone touc h-tone keyp ad  to make entries, or you c an simp ly sp eak 
your resp onses.”
3. Make sure that the prompts are appropriate for either kind of input.  There 
are two ways to d o this:
nTell c allers to “ enter”  the information.  For examp le:
“ Enter the zip  c od e of the restaurant you visited .”
nPresent the prompt as a question.  For example:
“ What is the zip  c od e of the restaurant you visited ?”
Either method is appropriate. To accomplish this in Sc ript Builder, write the 
ap plic ation the same as you would  for WholeWord  sp eec h rec og nition 
input.  For digits, the application automatically accepts touch-tone input in 
p lac e of the sp oken inp ut.  For “ yes”  and  “ no,”  you must id entify in the 
ap plic ation what touc h-tone keys are assoc iated  with the word s “ yes”  and  
“ no,”  and  sp ec ify the ac tion assoc iated  for eac h.  Use the third  p ag e of the 
Promp t & Collec t sc reen for these sp ec ific ations.
You also must tell c allers to p ress a touc h-tone key instead  of saying  “ yes”  
and  “ no,”  in c ase they want to indic ate their resp onse with a touc h-tone 
key.  The p romp ts to ac c omp lish this c ould  b e:
Promp t:  “ Would  you like to leave us a messag e reg ard ing  the servic e 
ag reement?”
{p ause} 
“ Please enter yes or no.”
Rep romp t:  “ Please say yes or no.  Or, for yes, p ress 1.  For no, p ress 2.” 
						

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Designing a Voice Response Application 
Page 4-31 Touch-Tone and Speech Recognition 
4
Fig ure 4-4 shows an examp le of the Sc rip t Build er c od e to ac c ep t touc h-tone 
inp ut and  sp oken inp ut.  Note that it is imp ortant to use Try Ag ain instead of 
Rep romp t in this Promp t & Collec t ac tion.  If you use Repromp t, the ap p lic ation 
will rep eat the p hrase “ Would  you like to leave a messag e”  after the p hrase 
“ Please say yes or no.  Or for yes, p ress 1.  For no, p ress 2.”  The ap p lication flow 
would b e awkward .
Prompt & Collect
Prompt
Speak with Interrupt
Phrase: 
“Would you like to leave a
message...?
”
Phrase: 
“sil.500
”
Phrase: 
“Please enter yes or no.
”
Input
Mode: US_YN
Max Number of Digits: 01
Checklist
Case: 
“Y
”
Continue
Case: 
“N
”
Continue
Case: 
“1
”
Continue
Case: 
“2
”
Continue
Case: 
“Not on List
”
Speak with Interrupt
Phrase: 
“Say yes or no.  Or for yes, 1.
For no, 2.
”
Try Again
Case: 
“Initial Timeout
”
Speak with Interrupt
Phrase: 
“Say yes or no.  Or for yes, 1.
For no, 2.
”
Try Again
Case: 
“Too Few Digits
”
Speak with Interrupt
Phrase: 
“Say yes or no.  Or for yes, 1.
For no, 2.
”
Try Again
Case: 
“No More Tries
”
Quit
End Prompt & Collect
Figure 4-4. Script Builder Code to Accept Touch-Tone Input and Spoken Input 
						

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Designing a Voice Response Application 
Page 4-32 Touch-Tone and Speech Recognition 
4
Use Touch-Tone Input When Speech
Recognition Fails
If you are using  WholeWord  sp eec h rec og nition, you may inc rease the numb er of 
suc cessful interactions by encouraging c allers to use touch-tone input when 
sp oken entries have b een rec ognized  inc orrec tly.
Touc h-tone inp ut may b e more ac c urate than sp oken inp ut.  You c an rep romp t 
c allers to ind ic ate their resp onse with touc h-tone inp ut if they have a touc h-tone 
telep hone.  The imp lementation is not d iffic ult, sinc e an app lic ation written to 
ac c ept sp oken inp ut will also ac c ep t touc h-tone inp ut.
A typ ic al promp t set mig ht look like this:
“ Please enter the 6-d ig it c ode for the fax information you want.”

“ You entered  135688.  Is this c orrec t?”

“ Please reenter the c od e.  If you have a touc h-tone telep hone, you may want to 
enter the c od e using  your keyp ad , instead .”
Modify a Touch-Tone-Only
Application to Include Spoken Input
When you modify a touc h-tone input ap p lic ation to sup p ort sp oken inp ut (in 
ad dition to or in p lac e of touc h-tone inp ut), rememb er the following  g uid elines:
nBe aware of d ifferenc es in Sc rip t Build er.  For instanc e, the Initial Timeout 
in the Promp t & Collec t ac tion is d ifferent for touc h-tone than for sp eec h 
rec ognition.  For touc h-tone, initial timeout rep resents the numb er of 
sec ond s the ap p lic ation will wait for the first touc h-tone resp onse from the 
c aller.  For sp eec h rec og nition, initial timeout rep resents the numb er of 
sec ond s from the end  of the p romp t until the ap p lic ation d emand s a result 
from the rec og nizer (regard less of whether b arg e-in is on or off).
nBefore you ad d  sp eec h rec og nition to a touc h-tone ap p lic ation, examine 
the app lic ation to see what the p romp ts say and  what ac tion is exp ec ted  
from c allers.  Think ab out the c ap ab ilities of the sp eec h rec og nition 
software you will b e using , and  where they mig ht fit in to the ap p lic ation. 
						

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Designing a Voice Response Application 
Page 4-33 Touch-Tone and Speech Recognition 
4
nIf you p lan to use FlexWord  sp eec h rec og nition, p ay attention to p lac es 
where c hoic es have numb ers.  For example, a touc h-tone p romp t in a 
homework assig nment app lic ation that says, 
“ To listen to homework, p ress 1.  To leave a messag e for the teac her, 
p ress 2.  To get a different c lass, p ress 3.”
c an b e mod ified  to take ad vantag e of c ustom word lists.  You c ould  
c hange the p romp t to say,
“ Would  you like to listen to homework, leave a messag e for the teac her, or 
c hoose a d ifferent c lass?”
Tab le 4-3
 shows the word s your word list mig ht c ontain for a homework 
assignment application:
Se e ,  “ FlexWord  Sp eec h Rec og nition in Ap p lic ations,” b elow for more 
information.
nIf you plan to use WholeWord  speec h rec og nition, your ap plic ation will b e 
ab le to rec og nize the word s “ yes”  and “ no”  and  c onnec ted  d ig its.  In 
places where the touch-tone applic ation prompted for digit entry 
(esp ec ially long  seq uenc es), you may want to introd uc e c ustom 
g rammars, d atab ase c hec king , c hec ksums, or g roup ing  to g et the hig hest 
rec ognition ac c urac y p ossib le.  For more information on d ig it entry, see 
“ Dig it Input,”
 ab ove.
Table 4-3. Wordlist for a Homework Assignment Application
Wo r d M a p s  t o  O p t i o n
listen to homework Listen to homework op tion
homework Listen to homework op tion
listen Listen to homework op tion
leave a messag e for the teac her Leave a message for the teac her op tion
leave a messag e Leave a message for the teac her op tion
teac her Leave a message for the teac her op tion
c hoose a d ifferent c lass Choose a d ifferent c lass op tion
d ifferent c lass Choose a d ifferent c lass op tion
d ifferent  Choose a d ifferent c lass op tion
c lass Choose a d ifferent c lass op tion 
						

							INTUITY CONVERSANT System Version 6.0
Application Design Guidelines  
585-310-670  Issue 1.0
December 1996
Designing a Voice Response Application 
Page 4-34 Dial Through and Barge-in 
4
Dial Through and Barge-in
Use the guid elines in this sec tion to d esig n your ap p lic ations that prop erly 
encourage or discourage dial through and barge-in.
Using Dial Through and Barge-in with
Errors Messages
For error messag es, req uire c allers to listen to at least p art of eac h error 
messag e, so the interac tion stop s and  the mistake c an b e c orrec ted .  For 
touc h-tone and  WholeWord  sp eec h rec og nition inp ut, turn off d ial 
throug h/b arg e-in d uring the first p art of eac h error messag e.  For examp le:
Turn d ial throug h or b arg e-in off and  p romp t:
“ Sorry. Please enter...”
turn dial throug h or b arg e-in on
“ ...your c ustomer numb er.”
Using Dial Through/Barge-in Consistently
Callers exp ec t and  ap p rec iate c onsistenc y.  Therefore, it is a g ood  id ea to ap p ly 
d ial throug h/b arg e-in c onsistently in your app lic ations.  Allowing  c allers to 
b arg e-in d uring  some p rompts and  not others in the same ap plic ation c ould  
c ause c onfusion.
For c onsistenc y, app lic ations that use FlexWord  sp eec h rec ognition or d ial p ulse 
rec ognition, even at one p romp t, should  not allow d ial throug h or barg e-in.  You 
may find , however, your c allers may want to b arg e-in d uring  some p romp ts, and 
may b e able to ac c ep t some inc onsistenc y.  During  your d esig n testing , 
d etermine what will work b est for your c alling  p op ulation, and  d esign your 
ap plic ations ac c ord ing ly.   See Chap ter 5, ‘‘Testing  and  Using  a Voic e Resp onse 
Application Design,’’ for information about testing your application design.
How to Word Prompts for Dial Through
and Barge-in
The word ing , leng th, and  struc ture of p romp ts c an d isc ourag e c allers from 
respond ing  d uring a p romp t.  You want to ensure that the c aller’s resp onses are 
c onsistent with how you have imp lemented  dial throug h/barg e; enab led  or 
disabled.