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Multi-Speaker Dialogue for Vehicular Navigation and Assistance

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Abstract

Currently, most Spoken Dialogue Systems (SDS) deal only with the interaction between the system and one speaker. In some situations, interaction may occur among several speakers and the system. New functions and improvements need to be made in order to handle a multi-user situation. Studies of the human-computer interaction system that involve multiple users are in their initial stages, and any papers, lectures or studies on the subject are very limited. For these reasons we are motivated to conduct a further study on Multi-Speaker Dialogue Systems (MSDS).

In this paper, the interactions between the multiple speakers and the system are classified into three types: independent, cooperative, and conflicting interactions. An algorithm for the multi-speaker dialogue management is proposed. The algorithm determines the interaction type, integrates conversation goals for multiple speakers and keeps the interaction going smoothly. The experiments were carried out in a practical system which can provide useful vehicular information to drivers and passengers. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can handle the interaction that occurs in a multi-speaker dialogue system properly. The task completion rate is 76%, and more than 61% of the testers are satisfied with the proposed MSDS system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Hsien-Chang Wang

  2. Department of Electrical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Jhing-Fa Wang

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  1. Hsien-Chang Wang
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Wang, HC., Wang, JF. Multi-Speaker Dialogue for Vehicular Navigation and Assistance. International Journal of Speech Technology 7, 231–244 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:IJST.0000017018.78522.58

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:IJST.0000017018.78522.58

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