Digital Accessibility in Intelligent Environments

Ntoa, Stavroula; Margetis, George; Antona, Margherita; Stephanidis, Constantine

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-10780-1_25

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 123 publications

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“…Intelligent agents and robotic agents are expected to be part of IE [35]: they can be used for intelligence in healthcare [56], for well-being [54], and they could prove useful to promote accessibility [50,52]. On the other hand, IE imply technological richness which allows for multimodal applications, both in terms of inputs from the user and outputs from the system, to create suitable interactions [40,50]. This variety offered by multimodality has the potential to lead to universal access in IE [14].…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With the current rapid technological evolution, IE are expected to become omnipresent, making universal access one of the seven grand challenges for living and interacting in such technology-augmented environments [22,42,50]. Therefore, it is crucial to incorporate the needs, requirements, and preferences of all individual users when designing applications in IE [13,40]. If these elements are constantly ignored, dire consequences could follow, such as the social exclusion for certain users [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Handling sensory disabilities in a smart society

Pivin-Bachler,

van den Broek,

Gomez

2024

SCS

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Billions of people live with visual and/or hearing impairments. Regrettably, their access to systems remains delayed, leaving them socially excluded. The need for universal access of next-generation systems and users’ inclusion is paramount. We pose that a smart society should respond to this crucial need. Following ability-based design principles, we introduce a simulated social robot that adapts to users’ sensory abilities. Its working was assessed via a Rock–Paper–Scissors game in an Intelligent Environment (IE), using three modes: where the user is able to see and hear, only see, or only hear. With this game, two user-studies were conducted using the UMUX-LITE usability score, an expectation rating, and the gap between experience and expectation, complemented with two open questions. A repeated measures Multivariate ANalysis Of VAriance (MANOVA) on the data from study 1 unveiled an overall difference between the three modes, F ( 6 , 6 ) = 6.823, η p 2 = .872, p = .017. Users expected applications to be harder to use with a disability, especially a visual impairment. All modes were considered accessible, with the experience exceeding expectations for the mode with a hearing impairment. In parallel, substantial variance was observed across participants and the results from the open questions suggested improvements. To reduce this variance and increase system stability, study 2 was run with an enhanced design. A repeated measures MANOVA on the data from study 2 confirmed study 1’s findings, F ( 6 , 6 ) = 12.801, η p 2 = .928, p = .003. Moreover, experiences exceeded expectations in all modes and the variance among participants was substantially decreased. We conclude that IE applications managed by a social robot can be adapted to user’s sensory abilities, improving smart society’s accessibility, and, hence, reducing social exclusion.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Handling sensory disabilities in a smart society

Pivin-Bachler,

van den Broek,

Gomez

2024

SCS

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“…IE implies technological richness which allows for multimodal applications, both in terms of inputs from the user and outputs from the system, to create suitable interactions [4,5]. No single method of interaction can suit every user, which highlights the need for adaptive design [5].…”

Section: Three Modes Of Perceptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Universal access is considered as one of the seven grand challenges for living and interacting in such technologyaugmented environments [4]. Ntoa et al [5] demonstrate that when designing applications in IE, it is crucial to incorporate the needs, requirements, and preferences of all individual users. A survey on ambient intelligence states that the interrogations linked to accessibility need to be addressed to avoid social exclusion for certain users [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“One for All, All for One”. A First Step Towards Universal Access with a Social Robot

Pivin-Bachler

Gómez

Broek

2023

Workshop Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Intelligent Environments (IE2023)

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The number of worldwide inhabitants suffering from visual or hearing impairments reaches billions according to the World Health Organization, making the need for universal access and inclusion in Intelligent Environments (IE) essential. An adaptive Rock-Paper-Scissors application using a simulation of the social robot Haru is presented. The accessibility of the application which covers three modes - where the user able to see and hear, only to see, or only to hear – was verified through a user-study. A multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures determined that the ratings from the 12 participants differed significantly across the three modes with F(6,6) = 6.823, η2p = .872, p = .017. Results show that users tend to expect applications to be harder to use when suffering from a disability, especially a visual impairment. All modes in the application were deemed acceptable in terms of usability, proving that the multimodality that comes with IE can help in promoting universal access and reducing social exclusion.

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“…The incorporation of biosignals in IE is seldom explored [6,7,8,9], likely because they originate from users rather than the environment. However, integrating on-body biosensors into IE systems is advantageous, as these signals complement conventional sensors such as cameras, microphones, and location tracking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biosignal Quality Control in Real-World Intelligent Environments

Arts

Broek

2023

Workshop Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Intelligent Environments (IE2023)

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Despite the wealthy of information biosignals cary, with Intelligent Environments (IE) they are often disregarded. We discuss issues we faced with integrating reliable biosignals into a real-world IE. These include the limited conductivity of dry sensors, movement artifacts, and placement issues. Subsequently, we introduce a real-time Signal Quality Indicator (SQI) for ElectroCardioGram (ECG), which consists of a Signal Loss Indicator (SLI) that detects signal capping, flatlining, high-frequency noise, and low-frequency noise. If the SLI detects a signal, the Signal Usability Indicator (SUI) subsequently processes the signal using the reference Pan-Tompkins algorithm and a dedicated filter to extract heart rate. The SQI marks what parts of the signal can and cannot be used for analysis. As such, it allows empirical calibration and, hence, the use of biosensors in real-world IE.

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Digital Accessibility in Intelligent Environments

Cited by 4 publications

References 123 publications

Handling sensory disabilities in a smart society

Handling sensory disabilities in a smart society

“One for All, All for One”. A First Step Towards Universal Access with a Social Robot

Biosignal Quality Control in Real-World Intelligent Environments

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