Blind and Visually Impaired User Interface to Solve Accessibility Problems

Abstract

Blind and visually impaired (BVI) users often have interface accessibility problems while using mobile applications. This study was conducted to reduce the cognitive effort required for interface navigation by identifying the accessibility issues according to the user’s mental model. The study evaluated the accessibility of smartphone screens to solve organizational, presentation, and behavioral (OPB) problems of using mobile applications. Usability evaluation of an application was conducted and validated with a specific focus on BVI user experience. A total of 56 BVI participants were included in the evaluation. Overall, four tasks to assess organization, avoidance of redundant information, serialization of content, and style and text presentation were assigned to the selected participants for a newly developed smartphone application. Ethnography, task completion within a specific time, and system usability scale (SUS) techniques were used for analysis and post-task evaluation. The results showed that the organization of the application was 100% effective for both blind and visually impaired participants. The efficiency of visually impaired participants was better than blind participants. The highest level of satisfaction among the blind participants was with the presentation (with a score of 87.62), and the highest level of satisfaction among the visually impaired participants was with the organization and presentation (with a score of 89.21 in each category). Overall, this study indicated the application reduced the severity of OPB problems, offering higher usability with increased satisfaction level and enhanced effectiveness and efficiency for BVI users. Furthermore, the calculated results were provided a significant solution of OPB for BVI users. Hence, this study provides design and development guidelines based on a practical evaluation to overcome the smartphone application accessibility problems of BVI users.