User Experience of Wearable Technologies: A Comparative Analysis of Textile-Based and Accessory-Based Wearable Products

Abstract

Wearable technology components have been integrated into accessories and then clothes over the evolutionary process. In the future, it is predicted that wearable technologies will be patchable and implantable. Despite progress in wearable technologies, there is an adaptation problem in wearable technologies. One of the most important reasons for this problem is the negative product experiences of the users. In this study, we investigated the user experiences of accessory-based and textile-based wearable technologies. Due to the temporality of the user experience, a mixed method was developed, including a survey for the expectations before use, a diary-interview for during use, and a semi-structured interview for after use. The data obtained with these methods were analyzed with SPSS and NVivo programs and the two different wearing-style experiences were compared. As a result of these analyses, it has been revealed that textile-based wearable technologies give a more positive experience during and after use and may be preferred over accessory-based wearable technologies in terms of wearability.

Unveiling key user experience issues to facilitate user-centred design of inertial motion capture systems

“…The proposed methodology establishes a systematic framework for conducting usability studies for wearable devices thereby supporting research in the direction of usability, user experience and human-centricity of wearable devices. Baskan and Goncu-Berk (2022) studied the user experiences associated with the usage of two distinct types of wearable devices including accessory based and textile based devices. The data for user experience study was acquired through surveys and the findings suggested the preference for textile based alternative as compared to the counterpart on the basis of user experience.…”

“…The five attributes to consider for measuring the overall user experience of the inertial motion capture suit, namely, 1) Discomfort, 2) Burden, 3) Distraction, 4) Flexibility issue, and 5) Emotion were shortlisted after a comprehensive literature search on the user experience aspects for wearable devices in various domains such as sports, ergonomics, rehabilitation and animation industry (Baskan and Goncu-Berk, 2022;Knight and Baber, 2005;Pearson, 2009). Participants were provided with the following explanations of these attributes and corresponding Likert scale descriptors.…”

“…Therefore, there has been a focus on the study of various aspects such as usability, user experience design, human behaviour in design and the various methods of exploration for these aspects. Baskan and Goncu-Berk (2022) define user experience as a term that encompasses users' emotions, beliefs, preferences, perceptions, physical and psychological responses associated with the usage of a product before, during and after interacting with it. Lee and Chang (2010) states that the purpose of product design should not be only to fulfil specific functions but to deliver a satisfactory overall experience to the consumers.…”

Flexible highly conductive melamine foam/copper sulfide has both electrical heating and pressure sensing properties

“…As two key factors, intelligence and comfort in wearable products have become a research hotspot in this field. 1 Among them, the flexible pressure sensor can collect the signals of human physiological parameters in real-time according to different needs, and plays a complementary role in monitoring human activities and health status; [2][3][4][5] Portable heating wearable products can improve wearing comfort. 6,7 Flexible sensors can be divided into three types: piezoresistive, 8 piezoelectric, 9 and capacitive.…”

Design of Innovative Clothing for Pressure Injury Prevention: End-User Evaluation in a Mixed-Methods Study

“…Functional textiles allow the incorporation of biosensors and other electronic devices, which elevates their preventive potential. However, research shows that end users do not use wearable devices due to unfamiliarity with their premise and design interface, and a lack of short-term results [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. Thus, usability evaluations from laboratory prototypes using user-centered design can be promising in device development and potential usefulness, ease of use and learning, and user satisfaction [ 9 , 14 , 15 , 16 ].…”