A voice user interface (VUI) enables people to interact with a voice application by speaking commands and asking questions. Users can voice instructions to control computers, devices, virtual assistants and IVR systems, compose and send text messages hands-free from a smartphone, transcribe dictation, etc. Home devices, like Amazon Alexa, can process speech commands to control the lights, play Jeopardy, place online orders, and more. Google recently reported that 20% of searches it facilitated were executed by voice. None of this would be possible without voice user interfaces (VUIs).
Call centers pioneered the use of voice applications when they incorporated automated speech recognition into their interactive voice response (IVR) systems. IVR systems greet callers and provide menu options. Modern IVR systems let callers speak their menu options or voice their issue using conversational language. When they do that, they are using a voice user interface (VUI) to interact with the system.
