Using Games to Practice Screen Reader Gestures

Abstract

Nowadays, a smartphone is fundamental for multiple aspects of our lives. These have evolved from a basic tool to communicate to a multi-purpose tool that allows to communicate with colleagues and friends and to get any information or entertainment.Android and iOS, the most popular mobile operating systems, have developed built-in screen readers that make smartphones generally accessible to blind people using gestures and help them use more of their smartphones. However, users experience difficulties due to unfamiliarity with the gestures and due to lack of interaction with their touchscreens.One possible way to improve the accessibility of these technologies could be through games that can teach how to perform a gesture correctly and explain how it can be used, as lately there has been a growing interest on using video games as an innovative educational tool.We developed Games for Gestures, a set of accessible games to discover and learn the gestures Google Talkback offers and our goal is to explore whether it is possible for mobile accessible games to be used as a gesture discovery and practice method. Corda focuses on teaching how to navigate with Explore by Touch. Foguete focuses on directional swipes left and right and on teaching Swipe To Explore. Guarda Redes is focused on the more advanced gestures.To evaluate our games, we performed a study in which participants played our games for a period of 5 days. After that, we conducted audio-recorded remote interviews with questions about the games and their overall perception of gestures.Our results suggest that accessible games could be important in the process of learning gestures, as they offer a playful method of learning, particularly for less experienced users. This, in turn, would increase their autonomy and inclusion, as this process would become easier and more fun for them.