Comparison Between Menu Interface and Voice Actuated Interface

1. Menu interface

• This type of interface lets you interact with a computer or device by working your way through a series of screens or menus.
• menu driven interfaceThink about your iPod or mobile phone, they both use a menu driven interface. You are presented with a menu, you make a choice and then the next menu appears on the screen. You make another choice and so on.

• Cashpoint machines (ATMs) are another good example of a menu driven interface.

• Menu driven interfaces can also be verbal rather than visual. Have you ever made a telephone call and been asked to 'press 1 for abc, press 2 for def, press 3 for ghi'?

• Most of the software that you use have menu interfaces. You can use many features of the software by working your way through the menu options. Have a look at the menus in your word processor or spreadsheet package and see how many different choices you are given.

• A well designed menu interface is simple to use, you just follow the instructions and make your choice

Example of menu driven

 Desktop template - Menu Interfaces.

Advantage and disadvantage of menu interface.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Extremely easy to use. Someone who has never seen the interface before can work out what to do	A poorly designed menu interface may be slow to use
There are no commands to learn or remember	It can be irritating if there are too many menu screens to work through - users get annoyed or bored if it takes too long
Step-by-step options are given so that the user doesn't have to remember anything	You often can't go to the exact place you want right at the start. You have to work your way through the menu screens even if you know where you want to get to.
Even if you don't know what to do, you can usually guess your way around the options	The menu can take up a large part of the screen so you have to keep flicking back and forwards between applications
Menu interfaces don't have to be visual, they can be spoken - good for telephones or for visually impaired people	If the menu is poorly designed it might be hard to read e.g. writing is too small for people with poor sight, colours might clash and be difficult to read, font style might be hard to read.
They don't need huge amounts of processing power or memory
It is fairly easy for the software programmer to create the same menus in different languages

2.Voice actuated interface

A voice-actuated environmental operator system of the kind which enables a user/patient to use simple voice commands to control a plurality of hospital environment room functions including operation of selected bed movement and room environment functions associated with a provided multi-function hospital bed.

The operator system uses a conventional IBM PC, XT, AT or like computer which has been adapted for interfacing in a pass-through manner with the control unit of a provided hospital bed.

The computer includes a voice card and associated voice recognition and training software for interpreting and translating voice input into digital information readable by a controller card for operating a plurality of bed motor and room function commands. The controller card includes a plurality of relay switch devices, each of which are dedicated to performing a specific bed movement or room function.

An FCC registered data access arrangement is also provided to the controller card for telephone interface capability. In a first embodiment, data communication between the computer and the provided hospital bed's control unit is by pass-through hard wire cable interface connection between bed control unit and the DB9 and DB15 serial port connectors on the back of the computer. The DB9 and DB15 serial port connectors are desoddered off the computer's motherboard and wired directly to the controller board.

A headset microphone assembly wearable by a patient user is provided to the system for transmitting voice input to said voice recognition means and receiving system command confirmation signals and telephone communications.

Voice – actuated interface
Which accept input and provide output by generating voice prompts. The user is made by pressing keys or buttons, or responding verbally to the interface.

Voice actuated interface