Smartphones-Based Assistive Technology: Accessibility Features and Apps for People with Visual Impairment, and its Usage, Challenges, and Usability Testing

Senjam, Suraj Singh; Manna, Souvik; Bascarán, Covadonga

doi:10.2147/opto.s336361

Cited by 50 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The results also validate and complement the existing literature. First, although we did not expect accessibility features for those with disabilities to be raised, this is a topic being explored more recently in the field of mHealth [ 26 - 29 ]. The majority are also looking at accessibility for older people, which was also raised by the end users in this study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

End Users' Perspectives on the Quality and Design of mHealth Technologies During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines: Qualitative Study

Gonzales¹,

Custodio²,

Lapitan³

et al. 2023

JMIR Form Res

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Background The COVID-19 pandemic has expanded the use of mobile health (mHealth) technologies in contact tracing, communicating COVID-19–related information, and monitoring the health conditions of the general population in the Philippines. However, the limited end-user engagement in the features and feedback along the development cycle of mHealth technologies results in risks in adoption. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends user-centric design and development of mHealth technologies to ensure responsiveness to the needs of the end users. Objective The goal of the study is to understand, using end users’ perspectives, the design and quality of mHealth technology implementations in the Philippines during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on the areas identified by stakeholders: (1) utility, (2) technology readiness level, (3) design, (4) information, (5) usability, (6) features, and (7) security and privacy. Methods Using a descriptive qualitative design, we conducted 5 interviews and 3 focus group discussions (FGDs) with a total of 16 participants (6, 37.5%, males and 10, 62.5%, females). Questions were based on the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS). Using the cyclical coding approach, transcripts were analyzed with NVivo 12. Themes were identified. Results The qualitative analysis identified 18 themes that were organized under the 7 focus areas: (1) utility: use of mHealth technologies and motivations in using mHealth; (2) technology readiness: mobile technology literacy and user segmentation; (3) design: user interface design, language and content accessibility, and technology design; (4) information: accuracy of information and use of information; (5) usability: design factors, dependency on human processes, and technical issues; (6) features: interoperability and data integration, other feature and design recommendations, and technology features and upgrades; and (7) privacy and security: trust that mHealth can secure data, lack of information, and policies. To highlight, accessibility, privacy and security, a simple interface, and integration are some of the design and quality areas that end users find important and consider in using mHealth tools. Conclusions Engaging end users in the development and design of mHealth technologies ensures adoption and accessibility, making it a valuable tool in curbing the pandemic. The 6 principles for developers, researchers, and implementers to consider when scaling up or developing a new mHealth solution in a low-resource setting are that it should (1) be driven by value in its implementation, (2) be inclusive, (3) address users’ physical and cognitive restrictions, (4) ensure privacy and security, (5) be designed in accordance with digital health systems’ standards, and (6) be trusted by end users.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

End Users' Perspectives on the Quality and Design of mHealth Technologies During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines: Qualitative Study

Gonzales¹,

Custodio²,

Lapitan³

et al. 2023

JMIR Form Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Rodriguez-Sanchez [7] notes that despite considerable research on accessible technology and assessment, visually impaired people find using smartphones challenging because the features currently available are not enough to meet users' expectations and requirements. Since visually impaired people are increasingly using smartphones and similar devices [8][9][10], usable and responsive interfaces must be developed to fulfil their needs. Peischl et al [11] integrate user-centered design in the early stage of mobile application development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A mobile e-learning application for enhancement of basic mathematical skills in visually impaired children

Shoaib

Khan²,

Fitzpatrick

et al. 2023

Univ Access Inf Soc

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Although smartphones are equipped with accessibility functions, they still pose significant problems for visually impaired people. Sometimes these functions cannot fulfil the expectations of users. Early mobile devices had physical buttons and a keypad, and visually impaired users could navigate around the keypad using the tactile markers on the buttons. However, the lack of tactile markers makes it much more difficult to operate a touchscreen device. This paper describes an e-learning platform that is designed to improve the accessibility of smartphone applications for students who are visually impaired but have some useful vision. A User-Centered Design approach was used to develop an effective solution for visually impaired students. A study was conducted during the development of the described platform, and the results showed that our suggested design improves task completion time as compared to the initial version. Participants also expressed higher levels of satisfaction when using the improved design of this platform. The modified design was also assessed using the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS), and the results indicate that it is quite reliable and rated well among visually impaired children. Furthermore, developers can use our suggested design guidelines such as clear navigation, color contrast, immediate feedback, icon arrangements, button and text size in the development of new applications.

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“…Smartphones have become the go-to device for many blind users to access information and communicate with others [1,57]. Menu selection (i.e., selecting items on a menu) is one of the most basic and common tasks that blind users perform on smartphones [30,40].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Touch-based Menu Selection Performance of Blind Users via Reinforcement Learning

Putkonen

et al. 2023

Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

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Although menu selection has been extensively studied in HCI, most existing studies have focused on sighted users, leaving blind users' menu selection under-studied. In this paper, we propose a computational model that can simulate blind users' menu selection performance and strategies, including the way they use techniques like swiping, gliding, and direct touch. We assume that selection behavior emerges as an adaptation to the user's memory of item positions based on experience and feedback from the screen reader.A key aspect of our model is a model of long-term memory, predicting how a user recalls and forgets item position based on previous menu selections. We compare simulation results predicted by our model against data obtained in an empirical study with ten blind users. The model correctly simulated the efect of the menu length and menu arrangement on selection time, the action composition, and the menu selection strategy of the users. CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → Accessibility theory, concepts and paradigms; Empirical studies in accessibility; HCI theory, concepts and models; User models.

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Smartphones-Based Assistive Technology: Accessibility Features and Apps for People with Visual Impairment, and its Usage, Challenges, and Usability Testing

Cited by 50 publications

References 37 publications

End Users' Perspectives on the Quality and Design of mHealth Technologies During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines: Qualitative Study

End Users' Perspectives on the Quality and Design of mHealth Technologies During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines: Qualitative Study

A mobile e-learning application for enhancement of basic mathematical skills in visually impaired children

Modeling Touch-based Menu Selection Performance of Blind Users via Reinforcement Learning

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