Worth Data 5000 owner manual Why Use Voice Messages and Prompts?, Tips for Using Voice Prompts

Chapter 12: Voice Messages

The TriCoder's exclusive use of voice prompts allows you to overcome problems such as literacy, language and lighting. With proper planning, voice prompting can make data collection significantly faster and simpler.

Why Use Voice Messages and Prompts?

oVoice messages can be in any language.

oThe operator does not have to be able to read to perform some jobs.

oAudible instructions can be heard in poor lighting where it is difficult to read a LCD screen.

oMOST IMPORTANTLY, the data collection process is faster because the operator does not have to continually look at the screen for instructions. This is especially useful when you do not want or need to enter data from the keypad. Scanning bar coded numbers from a Quantity BARPAD can make keying unnecessary.

oVoice messages and prompts are a good way to keep the operator’s attention focused on the job at hand. Audible error messages and warnings also help to limit mistakes and downtime.

Tips for Using Voice Prompts

Voice prompts can make data collection easier and faster, but only if used wisely. Here are some tips on making your voice prompts user-friendly:

Short messages are preferable for prompts; most English prompts can be stated in ½ second. Instead of saying, "Enter the Item Number" say "Item". During data collection, the typical TriCoder operator does not want to hear long messages thousands of times. Error messages are typically longer because they are the exception and need to provide more precise instruction to the user.

Record your voice prompts calmly. A frantic sounding voice can become irritating, especially when heard repeatedly.

Speak clearly. Correct pronunciation will make the voice prompts easier to follow for all users. Use common words that all users will understand.

Vary the tone of your voice for different prompts. For example, the pre-programmed prompts for Program #1; “Item” and “Quantity”, are recorded in a female voice while all error messages are recorded in a male voice. Using a different tone of voice or even a different voice for consecutive prompts or error messages will make it easier for the user to distinguish between them.

Consider using the “Data Security” option to prevent the operator from accidentally exiting “Data Collection” by pressing the key instead of the intended key (the key replays the current voice message).

Be sure to record error messages for all possible problems that the user may encounter during a data collection session. Once the operator becomes accustomed to listening to the voice prompts, it may become easy to overlook a “display only” error message.

Use a barpad table and Accumulate Mode to enter numeric data. This allows the operator to scan everything and avoid using the keypad. Data collection becomes a simple “listen and scan” operation. This has the potential to greatly speed up the entire data collection process.

TriCoder's Voice Message Mapping

The TriCoder is shipped with approximately 50 seconds of total recording time with 1MB allocated exclusively to Voice Messages. You can record any length message in the Hardware Utilities and send them to your TriCoder. We recommend that you use short messages for clarity. If you need more than the Default 1MB of space for Voice messages and you are not going to use Tables you can set TABLE ALLOWED to NO in the SYSTEM TOOLS and it will double the amount of memory to 2MB for voice storage.

Accessing Voice Message Operations

Voice Operations are accessed from the SETUP MODE: SYSTEM TOOLS: PLAY VOICE PROMPT # XX menu.

oEnter the Setup Mode by answering “5” at the Main Menu (opening screen)

oEnter 8 for SYTEM TOOLS

oPLAY VOICE PROMPT # XX: This enables you to play an individual Voice Prompt that is stored in the TriCoder.

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