Telephone Talk: Effects of Timing and Use of a Floorholder Message on Telephone Conversations Using Synthesized Speech
By Hanson, Elizabeth K.; Sundheimer, Caroline; Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 90-98Publication Date: June 2009
Study investigated the impact of a strategic floorholder message at the beginning of a phone call, as well as delayed versus immediate message delivery, using a speech-generating device (SGD). A floorholder message is defined as explanatory information given at the beginning of a conversation. For the study, calls were placed to 100 randomly-selected businesses asking for their business hours. The SGD used was a DynaVox MT4 with the DECtalk voice set to Beautiful Betty. The floorholder message announced was “Please wait, I am using a computer to talk.” Each call was randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: (1) floorholder present with no delay, (2) floorholder present with a 3-second delay, (3) floorholder absent and no delay, and (4) floorholder absent with a delay. Overall, 76 percent of the calls were unsuccessful because the individual answering the call hung up or otherwise did not provide the information requested. The majority of successful calls occurred in the floorholder present and no delay condition. Follow-up phone calls using the experimenter’s natural voice were made immediately upon completion of each call to assess the answerer’s impression and feelings of the call with the SGD. Only 14 individuals agreed to the follow-up interview. Most of these participants said the caller was hard to understand, and several reported thinking there was not a real person on the line; most respondents also said they were not bothered by the call.
Assistive Products Discussed: DECTALK PC
DYNAVOX V
Published by: International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) (Website:http://www.isaac-online.org)
Link to text: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a911209894
