An extended usability and UX evaluation of a mobile application for the navigation of individuals with blindness and visual impairments indoors: An evaluation approach combined with training sessions

Abstract

Navigating indoor spaces is especially challenging for individuals with blindness and visual impairments. Although many solutions currently exist, the acceptance of most of them is extremely poor due to their technical limitations and the complete lack of taking into consideration factors, such as usability and the perceived experience among others, which influence adoption rates. To alleviate this problem, we created BlindMuseumTourer, a state-of-the-art indoor navigation smartphone application that tracks and navigates the user inside the spaces of a museum. At the same time, it provides services for narration and description of the exhibits. The proposed system consists of an Android application that leverages the sensors found on smartphones and utilizes a novel pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) mechanism that optionally takes input from the Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacons specially mounted on the exhibits. This article presents the extended Usability and User Experience evaluation of BlindMuseumTourer and the findings carried out with 30 participants having varying degrees of blindness. Throughout this process, we received feedback for improving both the available functionality and the specialized user-centred training sessions in which blind users are first exposed to our application’s functionality. The methodology of this evaluation employs standardized questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, and the results indicate an overall positive attitude from the users. In the future, we intend to extend the number and type of indoor spaces supported by our application.

Challenges in Acceptance of Smartphone-Based Assistive Technologies: Extending the UTAUT Model for People With Visual Impairments

“…To examine the model's validity, we conducted a study with 231 participants. Furthermore, we conducted a usability and user experience evaluation employing the methodology followed by Theodorou et al (2022a) and Theodorou et al (2022b). The sample consisted of individuals with a wide range of visual impairments and ages, all coming from different socioeconomic backgrounds.…”

Multi-Sensor Data Fusion Solutions for Blind and Visually Impaired: Research and Commercial Navigation Applications for Indoor and Outdoor Spaces

“…These two have the potential to cast some light on the factors that lead to the low adoption rates of the BVI communities [ 36 ]. We have seen in the context of designing, implementing and evaluating our assistive technology applications that their exploration can lead to uncovering the system’s failing aspects from the perspective of the BVI individuals [ 37 , 38 ].…”

“…The assessment methodology employed the metrics of effectiveness and efficiency and is similar to the one described in [ 37 , 38 ]. The former employs the metrics of completion and error rate and efficiency is measured as the ratio of successfully completed tasks per unit of time.…”