Usability of a Mobile App for Improving Literacy in Children With Hearing Impairment: Focus Group Study

Abstract

Background Children with hearing loss, even those identified early and who use hearing aids or cochlear implants, may face challenges in developing spoken language and literacy. This can lead to academic, behavioral, and social difficulties. There are apps for healthy children to improve their spoken language and literacy and apps that focus on sign language proficiency for children with hearing loss, but these apps are limited for children with hearing loss. Therefore, we have developed an app called Hear Me Read, which uses enhanced digital stories as therapy tools for speech, language, and literacy for children with hearing loss. The platform has therapist and parent/child modes that allow (1) the selection of high-quality, illustrated digital stories by a speech-language pathologist, parent, or child; (2) the modification of digital stories for a multitude of speech and language targets; and (3) the assignment of stories by a therapist to facilitate individualized speech and language goals. In addition, Hear Me Read makes the caregiver a core partner in engagement through functionality, whereby the caregiver can record video and audio of themselves to be played back by the child. Objective This study aimed to evaluate the user experience of the Hear Me Read app through a focus group study with caregivers and their children. Methods We recruited 16 participants (8 children with and without hearing loss and 8 caregivers) to participate in 1-hour focus groups. Caregivers and children interacted with the app and discussed their experiences through a semistructured group interview. We employed thematic analysis methods and analyzed the data. We used feedback from the focus group to improve the elements of the app for a larger clinical trial assessing the impact of the app on outcomes. Results We identified three themes: default needs, specific needs, and family needs. Participants found the app to be esthetically pleasing and easy to use. The findings of this study helped us to identify usability attributes and to amend app functionalities to best fit user needs. Caregivers and children appreciated the enhancements, such as highlighting of parts of speech and caregiver reading of video playback, which were made possible by the digital format. Participants expressed that the app could be used to enhance family reading sessions and family interaction. Conclusions The findings from this focus group study are promising for the use of educational apps designed specifically for those with hearing loss who are pursuing listening and spoken language as a communication outcome. Further investigation is needed with larger sample sizes to understand the clinical impact on relevant language and literacy outcomes in this population.

A Friendly Indoor Navigation App for People with Disabilities (FIND)

“…One limitation of this study was the time delay between the heuristic evaluations and the focus group meeting. Previous studies have conducted focus group meetings immediately after participants interacted with an app's interface (DeForte et al, 2020). Due to conflicting schedules of participants, the focus group meeting was held as far as five days after some participants' initial interaction with FIND's interface.…”

A Medical Translation Assistant for Non–English-Speaking Caregivers of Children With Special Health Care Needs: Proposal for a Scalable and Interoperable Mobile App

“…The usability and acceptance of the app will be measured using scientific methods. Our team has an extensive track record in acceptability and usability testing [ 17 , 20 , 21 ]. We will be employing a user-centered, participatory design and testing methodology, and widely adopted usability and acceptance scales, such as the system usability scale (SUS) and the technology acceptance model (TAM) [ 22 , 23 ].…”

The experiences, needs and barriers of people with impairments related to usability and accessibility of digital health solutions, levels of involvement in the design process and strategies for participatory and universal design: a scoping review

“…Table 2 shows the characteristics of the included literature. A large proportion of the sources reported different types of apps that can be used on smart-phones and tablets [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]. The other sources included a smart shower [43], conversational agents [44], gaming, social media, and robotics technologies [45], website [46], interactive map [47], augmented reality magnification aid device for low vision user [48], electric powered wheelchair [49] and strategies for how to design digital health solutions [50][51][52].…”

“…The authors of several of the included sources have designed and developed digital health solutions intended for people with impairments and invited people with impairments to test the usability of the solution and service [28,29,34,37]. In accordance with the sources presented above, the testers reported varying degrees of challenges related to the layout and navigation of the apps, indicating that it is challenging to design a userfriendly app.…”