Abstract
There has been a conscious shift towards developing increasingly inclusive applications. However, despite this fact, most research has focused on supporting those with visual or hearing impairments and less attention has been paid to cognitive impairments. The purpose of this study is to analyse touch gestures used for touchscreens and identify which gestures are suitable for individuals living with Down syndrome (DS) or other forms of physical or cognitive impairments. With this information, app developers can satisfy Design for All (DfA) requirements by selecting adequate gestures from existing lists of gesture sets. Twenty touch gestures were defined for this study and a sample group containing eighteen individuals with Down syndrome was used. A tool was developed to measure the performance of touch gestures and participants were asked to perform simple tasks that involved the repeated use of these twenty gestures. Three variables are analysed to establish whether they influence the success rates or completion times of gestures, as they could have a collateral effect on the skill with which gestures are performed. These variables are Gender, Type of Down syndrome, and Socioeconomic Status. Analysis reveals that significant difference is present when a pairwise comparison is performed, meaning individuals with DS cannot perform all gestures with the same ease. The variables Gender and Socioeconomic Status do not influence success rates or completion times, but Type of DS does.
Highlights
It has become much more commonplace to find touchscreen devices— tablets, smartphones or e-readers, amongst others—and touch gestures being used in both personal and professional settings
This study has evaluated a total of 20 touchscreen gestures performed using onehanded finger gestures, two-handed touch gestures, one hand touch gestures, and two hand touch gestures with individuals living with Down syndrome to determine if differences are present in terms of ease of use and execution times of said gestures
The study is founded on the premise of Design for All
Summary
It has become much more commonplace to find touchscreen devices— tablets, smartphones or e-readers, amongst others—and touch gestures being used in both personal and professional settings. This situation has led to a change in people’s habits [1,2]. The natural and intuitive interaction [3] between the end-user and touchscreens via touch gestures has transformed smartphones and tablets into the most widely used pieces of technology in today’s society [4]. Interactive screens are so natural and intuitive that studies such as that by Plowman confirm that even small children are capable of using these devices, and do so even before verbal communication development is completed [5]. Even adults use them when they are placed in their surroundings, i.e., urban interfaces such as parking meters, on-street cycle parking, cash machines, ticket machines at the underground station, etc
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