Investigating cognitive workload in concurrent speech-based information communication

Users are capable of noticing, listening, and comprehending concurrent information simultaneously, but in conventional speech-based interaction methods, systems communicate information sequentially to the users. This mismatch implies that the sequential approach may be under-utilising human perception capabilities and restricting users to seek information to sub-optimal levels. This paper reports on an experiment that investigates the cognitive workload experienced by the users when listening to a variety of combinations of information types in concurrent formats. Fifteen different combinations of concurrent information streams were investigated, and the subjective listening workload for each of the combination was measured using NASA-TLX.