Abstract
Touchscreen assistive technology is designed to support speech interaction between visually disabled people and mobile devices, allowing hand gestures to interact with a touch user interface. In a global perspective, the World Health Organization estimates that around 285 million people are visually disabled with 2/3 of them over 50 years old. This paper presents the user evaluation of VoiceOver, a built-in screen reader in Apple Inc. products, with a detailed analysis of the gesture interaction, familiarity and training by visually disabled users, and the system response. Six participants with prescribed visual disability took part in the tests in a usability laboratory under controlled conditions. Data were collected and analysed using a mixed methods approach, with quantitative and qualitative measures. The results showed that the participants found most of the hand gestures easy to perform, although they reported inconsistent responses and lack of information associated with several functionalities. User training on each gesture was reported as key to allow the participants to perform certain difficult or unknown gestures. This paper also reports on how to perform mobile device user evaluations in a laboratory environment and provides recommendations on technical and physical infrastructure.
Highlights
Since the last decade, touchscreen technology has been increasingly used across multiple types of devices, such as smartphones and tablets [1,2,3], and in photocopying machines, automated teller machines (ATMs), and ticket machines in bus, railway stations, and airports
The research project “Visually impaired users touching the screen—A user evaluation of assistive technology” aimed at evaluating the accessibility and usability of a screen reader for touchscreens in smartphones [15]. is paper presents the results from the evaluation of the usability and the accessibility of the screen reader VoiceOver, which is an integrated functionality in iPhone mobile devices
A mixed methods research approach was employed in the evaluation of the screen reader [16,17,18], with quantitative and qualitative measures. e evaluation was conducted in three phases: (1) individual user training at the participant’s home and introduction to the gestures a few days before the test, supplied with a written instruction sent by e-mail; (2) a usability test in a controlled laboratory environment including a pretest interview for collecting participant background information; and (3) a posttest interview for qualitative analysis of the test output. e research team had three members whose background was health technology, educational training with assistive technology, and clinical practice
Summary
Touchscreen technology has been increasingly used across multiple types of devices, such as smartphones and tablets [1,2,3], and in photocopying machines, automated teller machines (ATMs), and ticket machines in bus, railway stations, and airports. Mobile phones with physical buttons are still functional for many visually disabled people because of the surface and the rugosity of the buttons that provide palpable guidance when using the device This type of communication device has become less popular in favour of smartphones with touchscreens that currently dominate the market. VoiceOver has to be activated in the device’s settings, and when activated, the device provides a speech feedback when a user interacts using hand gestures on the touchscreen. Is paper presents the results from the evaluation of the usability and the accessibility of the screen reader VoiceOver (iOS 7.1.2), which is an integrated functionality in iPhone mobile devices. A discussion of the main results is provided followed by a summary of the research contributions and conclusions
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