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Voice-led interactive exploration of audio

A report on the development of a voice-led interactive prototype application for navigating audio.

Published: 17 December 2019
A smart speaker on a table.

The dominance of digital audio distribution and rapid growth in smart speaker technology present new challenges for interactive exploration of audio-only media. Smart headphones are an emergent technology whose unique affordances for accessing, interacting with and displaying content are only starting to be explored.

This research project developed a working prototype of a voice-led interactive application for navigating the ±«Óãtv’s Glastonbury 2019 highlights on smart speakers and smart headphones, called the Auditory Archive Explorer. The voice-led interaction design and two prototype versions were evaluated using a mixed-methods user experience research approach. The two iterations featured identical content, but alternate modes of audio presentation. Mono playback was used in the case of the smart speaker. Full binaural synthesis (i.e. static placement of sound sources in virtual 3D space using head-tracking) augmented the smart headphone experience.

A flow chart showing how a choice of mood leads to a selection of five pieces of music of that mood, or leads on to another selection of 5 pieces of music in the same mood category to choose from.

Twenty-two people were selected to participate in a research study to evaluate the prototype, after an open call to register interest.

In the report (downloadable above) we share the background motivation, conception, engineering, implementation, research study design, data analysis and conclusions, for anyone interested in voice interaction design and smart audio devices.

This publication is part of the Internet Research and Future Services section

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