VoiceXML Technology: Benefits and Limitations

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VoiceXML is the W3C’s standard XML format for creating interactive voice applications that can be accessed over the phone. It could be described as a markup language used for scripting interactive dialogues between humans and computers. It is like HTML, the only difference is that while HTML uses a graphical user interface to access information VoiceXML uses an audio interface where speech and keypad tones replaces the screen, keyboard and mouse (Hampton, 2001, para.1). The basic elements for interaction are speech and Dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signalling with telephone keypads. The computer uses spoken prompts to evoke responses from the user in a sequential and linear manner and the user is meant to respond using a finite set of vocabularies in every dialogue. Despite the potentials and capabilities of interactive voice applications, the technology is far from reaching its potentials. The reason for this problem is that they are prone to errors because of the lack of tools and methodology for the construction of practical and suitable frameworks. In the past, developing voice applications has been an expensive, high-level technology and complex application development which was crafted with ad hoc infrastructures to meet essential business needs, thus people still feel it is very complex (Turunen, 2004). VoiceXML provides methods that make interactive voice applications quite easy to build. It provides the opportunity to develop affordable voice applications which are flexible, portable and easy to use. Its significance is that it reaches a much larger audience than the privileged population who have regular access to computers. The major benefits of VoiceXML mentioned, in order of regularity, are its simplified web acc... ... middle of paper ... ...Creating VoiceXML Application with Perl. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2010, from: Palmer, M., Waiters, M. (2006). Guide to Operating Systems. Reusch, P.J.A., Stoll, B. and Studnik, D. (2005). VoiceXML-Applications for E-Commerce and E-Learning. Intelligent Data Acquisition and Advanced Computing Systems: Technology and Applications. IEEE. pp 709 – 712. United States. Department of Technology and Information. Find Out How: VoiceXML Benefits. 2 Apr. 2010. 12 Nov. 2010 < http://dti.delaware.gov/services/vxmlbenefits.shtml> Voxpilot, (2004). Benefits of VXML: Voxpilot White Paper. Retrieved Nov. 12, 2010 from: Zue, V., Cole, R. and Ward, W. (2001). Speech Recognition. Retrieved Nov. 8, 2010, from:

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