The range of applications of speech technology has increased dramatically over the past two decades. With this increase, comes a new set of problems relating to the use of the technology. In this paper, one aspect of this set of problems is considered: workload.
The paper is divided into nine main sections. In the first two sections the aims of the paper and the topic of workload are introduced. In the third section, the effects of workload on human performance are reviewed. In the fourth section the status of workload as a stressor is considered. In the fifth section the effects of stress on performance are considered. In the sixth section, the production of speech is discussed and in the seventh section consideration is given to the possible effects of workload on the production of speech and on the use of speech recognition systems. In the eigth section the notion of workload is extended to consider the effect of physical workload on the use of speech recognition. Throughout the paper a number of problems will be highlighted and in the ninth section a number of proposals for solving these problems are presented.