Spoken Dialogue System: Its Applications in the Developing Countries and a Technology for Bridging the Digital Divide and Augmenting Scarce Services in those Countries

Aims: This article reports the various application areas of the spoken dialogue system in the developing world to determine if the system could be used to bridge the digital divide prevalent in these regions of the world. The work also aims to identify in which developing nations is the system currently being put to use.

Study Design: A survey of twenty articles on the subject matter was carried out and their domains of the application were identified. The different forms of the evaluation carried out on them were also identified towards determining their outcomes positivity for bridging the digital divide. Various comments made of the different evaluations were also considered in determining the suitability of spoken dialogue systems in bridging the digital divide.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Computer Science and Information Technology, Bowen University, Iwo, Nigeria, between February 2013 and October 2019.

Methodology: The different domains of the works, the different forms of the evaluation carried out on the systems, the various comments consequent upon the testing of the systems by the participants and the developing countries where those works were carried out were identified. A position was now taken based on the results obtained.

Results: Nine of the works are in the healthcare domain, three in agriculture, one in banking, one in aviation, one in secretarial work, one in the accuracy of recognition, one in education and three having multiple domains. The various comments and results from the evaluations all point towards the system’s suitability for bridging the digital divide. The spoken dialogue system is currently being used in only six developing nations of the world.

Conclusion: Consequent upon the results obtained, it is clear that spoken dialogue systems can be used to bridge the digital divide in the developing world and that other application areas not yet covered could be explored for the benefits of the citizens of these regions, especially the digitally disadvantaged ones.