Thinking Out Loud: An Invitation for Designers to Consider the Voice User Interface (VUI)

Current trends in computer-supported, digital technology point to voice activated devices and interfaces, specifically the Voice User Interface (VUI) becoming much more normalized and prevalent in places like the U.S. that make regular use of electricity and internet-facilitated computational activity. According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2019, 45 million households in the U.S. already have at least one smart speaker, and large numbers of homes in other countries are quickly adopting similar technology. Add to this the global number of smart phone users, and users of other VUI enabled devices, and it becomes evident that using voice to interact with computationally facilitated technology has become increasingly commonplace. This context of use is reminiscent of an era in the 1980s when the use of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) and the "whatyou-see-is-what-you-get," or "WYSIWYG," facilitated modalities of use became the main way users interacted with computers. These modalities afforded interaction designers opportunities to become effective ambassadors for ensuring that the needs and desires of those who used and would use these interfaces could be effectively met. We are currently witnessing a similarly important inflection point in the history of how humans interact with computers during which visual communicators and user experience designers have the potential to significantly affect the functionalities of VUI interactions and the operations of the devices they support. This article aims to critically analyze some key aspects of VUI as they relate to the following questions.