INVESTIGATING THE APPLICATIONS OF NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING IN HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze and explore the usage and efficiency of Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques for the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI); their possibilities concerning users’ interaction and accessibility; and the main problems occurred while implementing NLP into HCI systems. Carrying out a qualitative study, the work features a literature review, case studies of several actual NLP-based HCI applications, and key informant interviews to explore the emergent role of NLP technologies concerning user experiences. The study found out that NLP has deepened user engagement by introducing natural language in interfaces of voice assistants, chats, and sentiment analyzers. In addition, through voice-to-text, and speech synthesis systems NLP has helped improve accessibility to users with physical and motor disabilities. However, the study also reveals some of the problem areas such as vagueness of language, cross cultural and language differences and the reality of working at real time pace. Based on the consequential results, potential future research topics were proposed: context-aware technologies, multiple modality interfaces, as well as, the need for ethic-coded NLP.