The Medical Assistive and Transactional Technologies (MATT): A case study of co-conception design

Abstract

The development of Assistive Technology (AT) is an answer for disabled persons if it meets their needs. Even when technological barriers are overcomed, users often abandon their devices. Many studies show high abandonment rate of AT. The reasons are: misunderstanding of AT, unfitting devices to the personal needs of very demanding users, low adaptive performances of AT to worsening disabilities. Therefore, we wanted an end-user of the MATT (a Locked-in patient with partial functional abilities of one left hand finger) to participate actively in co-design and assess this AT. MATT is an interactive system of environment control and communications, connected to bedroom objects — lights, roller shutter, TV, radio station, nurse warning —, all in one, designed for people with motor and sensory impairments. Firstly, the needs — communication, environment control, Internet applications, audio message, etc. — were identified by the patient, her husband and the occupational therapist team. Secondly, an efficient prototype of the MATT virtual interface was quickly designed by the SOftware KEYboard Toolkit [1] which also allows choosing several parameters: type of interaction–pointing or scanning–and its settings–scanning frequency, command mode, etc. Thirdly, MATT was experimented by the patient. From this observation phase, a new cycle of iteration–requirement defined by the user feedback together with her occupational therapist, prototyping and test–is set up, and so on. This case study has demonstrated that co-design is an appropriate method to design adapted and adaptable AT for severe disabled patients. Specific requirements such as text input function, serious game, repetition command facility, timeout to avoid involuntary command were easily added. Currently, the patient enjoys the use of MATT and is requiring for new developments in her daily living activities. The next step is to assess the use of MATT with qualitative and quantitative criteria and its contributions for rehabilitation.