Comparative Evaluation of Voice Versus Keypad Input for Manipulating Electronic Technical Data for Flight Line Maintenance Technicians

Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals will soon be come a requirement for aircraft maintenance technicians. An important aspect in their development is the selection of an input device that will enhance, rather than impede, technician performance. The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate two types of input devices that can be used: a voice recognition input and a keypad input. Studies to date have evaluated the superiority of digital data over paper data, and advantages of using a Head Mounted Display Device over a flat screen laptop computer. No research has evaluated the input device. An experiment was conducted to determine which interface allowed the technicians to work faster. Sixteen F-16 avionics maintenance technicians from the 178th Tactical Fighter Group, Ohio Air National Guard, performed two parallel tasks using each input device. One task was performed using a keypad input device and another task was performed using a voice recognition input device.