Multimodal interaction provides the user with multiple modes of interfacing with a system beyond the traditional keyboard and mouse input/output. The most common such interface combines a visual modality (e.g. a display, keyboard, and mouse) with a voice modality (speech recognition for input, speech synthesis and recorded audio for output). However other modalities, such as pen-based input or haptic input/output, may be used. Multimodal user interfaces are a research area in human-computer interaction. A computer keyboard is a peripheral modeled after the typewriter keyboard. ... Operating a mechanical mouse. ... In computing, Input/output, or I/O, is the collection of interfaces that different functional units (sub-systems) of an information processing system use to communicate with each other, or the signals (information) sent through those interfaces. ... Speech recognition technologies allow computers equipped with a source of sound input, such as a microphone, to interpret human speech, for example, for transcription or as an alternative method of interacting with a computer. ... Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. ... Haptic From the Greek Hapthai, means pertaining to the sense of touch. ... Human-computer interaction (HCI) or, alternatively, computer-human interaction (symbolized as Χ χ Chi, the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet) is the study of interaction between people (users) and computers. ...

The advantage of multiple modalities is increased usability: the weaknesses of one modality are offset by the strengths of another. On a mobile device with a small visual interface and keypad, a word may be quite difficult to type but very easy to say (e.g. Poughkeepsie). Consider how you would access and search through digital media catalogs from these same devices or set top boxes. And in one real-world example, patient information in an operating room environment is accessed verbally by members of the surgical team to maintain an antiseptic environment, and presented in near realtime aurally and visually to maximize comprehension. Usability is a term used to denote the ease with which people can employ a particular tool or other human-made object in order to achieve a particular goal. ... Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie, New York (City) Poughkeepsie, New York (Town) Poughkeepsie, Arkansas This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Multimodal user interfaces have implications for accessibility. A well-designed multimodal application can be used by people with a wide variety of impairments. Visually impaired users rely on the voice modality with some keypad input. Hearing-impaired users rely on the visual modality with some speech input. Other users will be "situationally impaired" -- e.g., wearing gloves in a very noisy environment, driving, or needing to enter a credit card number in a public place -- and simply use the appropriate modalities as desired. On the other hand, a multimodal application that requires users to be able to operate all modalities is very poorly designed. Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a system is usable by as many people as possible without modification. ...

The most common form of multimodality in the market makes use of the XHTML+Voice (aka X+V) Web markup language, an open specification developed by IBM, Motorola, and Opera Software. X+V is currently under consideration by the W3C and combines several W3C Recommendations including XHTML for visual markup, VoiceXML for voice markup, and XML Events, a standard for integrating XML languages. Multimodal web browsers supporting X+V include IBM WebSphere Everyplace Multimodal Environment, Opera for Embedded Linux and Windows, and ACCESS Systems NetFront for Windows Mobile. To develop multimodal applications, software developers may use a software development kit, such as IBM WebSphere Multimodal Toolkit, based on the open source Eclipse framework, which includes an X+V debugger, editor, and simulator. In engineering and manufacturing, the term specification has the following meanings: Technical requirement A specification is a set of requirements. ... For other uses, see IBM (disambiguation). ... Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is an international communications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. ... Logo of Opera Software. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A W3C Recommendation is the final stage of a ratification process of the W3C working group concerning the standard. ... XHTML is the new standard for webpage authoring used by l33t programmers. ... VoiceXML (VXML) is the W3Cs standard XML format for specifying interactive voice dialogues between a human and a computer. ... The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a W3C recommendation for creating special-purpose markup languages. ... Icons for Web browser shortcuts on an Apple computer (Safari, Internet Explorer, and Firefox). ... Opera is an Internet suite which handles common internet-related tasks, including visiting web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, and online chat. ... In mathematics, see embedding. ... Linux (also known as GNU/Linux) is a computer operating system. ... As of 2006, Microsoft Windows is the worlds most common operating system for use on personal computers. ... NetFront is a microbrowser for Personal Digital Assistants and other mobile platforms developed by Access Co. ... Windows Mobile is a compact operating system combined with a suite of basic applications for mobile devices based on the Microsoft Win32 API. Devices which run Windows Mobile include Pocket PCs, Smartphones, and Portable Media Centers. ... A software developer is a programmer who is concerned with one or more facets of the software development process, a somewhat broader scope of computer programming. ... A software development kit (SDK) is typically a set of development tools that allows a software engineer to create applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system or similar. ... Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ... The French 1999 eclipse An eclipse (Greek verb: ekleipô, to vanish) is an astronomical event that occurs when one celestial object moves into the shadow of another. ... In software development, a framework is a defined support structure in which another software project can be organized and developed. ... A debugger is a computer program that is used to debug (and sometimes test or optimize) other programs. ... An Editor is a person who prepares text—typically language, but also images and sounds—for publication by correcting, condensing, or otherwise modifying it. ... A simulation is an imitation of some real device or state of affairs. ...

See also

• W3C's Multimodal Interaction Activity - an initiative from W3C aiming to provide means (mostly XML) to support Multimodal Interaction scenarios on the Web.
• Device Independence
• Web accessibility

The Multimodal Interaction Activity is an initiative from W3C aiming to provide means (mostly XML) to support Multimodal Interaction scenarios on the Web. ... The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is a consortium that produces standards—recommendations, as they call them—for the World Wide Web. ... The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a W3C-recommended general-purpose markup language for creating special-purpose markup languages, capable of describing many different kinds of data. ... Device Independence is a special track of the W3C. Its aim is for a unified web which is accessible from many types of devices. ... Web accessibility refers to the practice of making Internet web pages accessible to all users, especially those with disabilities. ...

External links

• ACCESS NetFront Multimodal Browser
• IBM WebSphere Everyplace Multimodal Environment
• Opera Multimodal Browser
• W3C Multimodal Interaction Activity
• XHTML+Voice information at the VoiceXML Forum
• XHTML+Voice Profile 1.0, W3C Note 21 December 2001
• XHTML+Voice Profile 1.2, courtesy of VoiceXML Forum