Modality (human–computer interaction): Difference between revisions

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{{distinguish|Mode (user interface)}}

In the context of [[human–computer interaction]], a '''modality''' is the classification of a single independent channel of [[input/output]] between a computer and a human. Such channels may differ based on sensory nature (e.g., visual vs. auditory),<ref name="HCI Overview2">{{cite journal|last1 = Karray|first1 = Fakhreddine|last2 = Alemzadeh|first2 = Milad|last3 = Saleh|first3 = Jamil Abou|last4 = Arab|first4 = Mo Nours|title = Human-Computer Interaction: Overview on State of the Art|journal = International Journal on Smart Sensing and Intelligent Systems|date = March 2008|volume = 1|issue = 1|url = http://www.s2is.org/issues/v1/n1/papers/paper9.pdf|accessdate = April 21, 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150430205510/http://s2is.org/Issues/v1/n1/papers/paper9.pdf|archive-date = April 30, 2015|url-status = dead}}</ref> or other significant differences in processing (e.g., text vs. image).<ref>https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.13823</ref>

A system is designated unimodal if it has only one modality implemented, and [[multimodal interaction|multimodal]] if it has more than one.<ref name="HCI Overview2" /> When multiple modalities are available for some tasks or aspects of a task, the system is said to have overlapping modalities. If multiple modalities are available for a task, the system is said to have redundant modalities. Multiple modalities can be used in combination to provide complementary methods that may be redundant but convey information more effectively.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Interactive Systems. Design, Specification, and Verification|last1 = Palanque|first1 = Philippe|publisher = Springer Science & Business Media|year = 2001|isbn = 9783540416630|pages = [https://archive.org/details/springer_10.1007-3-540-44675-3/page/n50 43]|last2 = Paterno|first2 = Fabio|url = https://archive.org/details/springer_10.1007-3-540-44675-3}}</ref> Modalities can be generally defined in two forms: human-computer-human and computer-human-computer modalities.

==Computer–Human modalities==