Visual Feedback Interface for Audio Communication Over Lossy and High Delay Networks
摘要
In an audio communication via VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) over a network with high delay and/or loss, participants can step-over each other and have a poor user experience. This paper presents a novel approach to mitigate step-overs during audio call and hence enhance user experience in audio communications, particularly in scenarios characterized by high network delays and/or loss. The proposed solution involves the integration of dynamic visual feedback into the user interface (UI). Through the use of dynamic animations displayed on the user’s screen, real-time updates regarding the reception status of the transmitted audio, at the intended recipient are provided. This innovative method aims to enhance the user experience during audio communication sessions under adverse network conditions. We employed a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to validate our hypothesis, which aimed to reduce step-overs during audio calls with high delay, ultimately enhancing the user experience. The results were positive, with participants reporting improved experiences when animation was enabled where the average rating of the Mean Opinion Score (MOS), which ranges from 1 to 5 (with 1 indicating the lowest and 5 indicating the highest satisfaction), increased from 2.6 to 3.7. And we also observed a significant reduction of approximately 35% in step-overs when the animation was enabled (“animation on”) as compared to when it was disabled (“animation off”).