SPEECH TECHNOLOGY FOR AUTOMATIC TELLER MACHINES - AN INVESTIGATION OFUSER ATTITUDE AND PERFORMANCE

Despite the success and widespread use of Automatic Teller Machines (A TMs), a significant proportion of bank customers can not or will not u se them, or experience difficulties in their interactions. Speech tech nology has been suggested as a means by which non-users might be encou raged to use ATMs, while simultaneously improving usability for all. T he potential advantages of speech interfaces include hands-free and ey es-free use for physically- and visually-impaired users, and improved ease and speed of use through increased 'naturalness' of the interacti on. This study investigated user attitudes to the concepts of a speech -based ATM, via large-scale survey and a series of focus groups. Objec tive performance was also considered in user trials with a prototype s peech-driven ATM. The idea of using speech for ATM transactions led to a number of concerns. Privacy (the concern over one's personal financ ial details being overheard) and security (the fear of potential attac kers hearing the user withdraw cash) were the major reasons given. The user trials confirmed that possible solutions, such as the adoption o f a hood over the ATM or the use of a telephone handset as the speech input/output device, were ineffective. Groups of impaired users, parti cularly visually-impaired subjects, were more positive about the conce pt of speech, citing various difficulties with current visual-manual i nteractions. Most non-users, however, would not be encouraged to use A TMs with the addition of speech. The paper discusses these and other i ssues relating to the likely success of using speech for ATM applicati ons.