Interactive Multi-Sensory Environments (iMSEs) are room-sized interactive installations equipped with digitally enriched physical materials and ambient embedded devices. These items can sense users' presence, gestures, movements, and manipulation, and react by providing gentle stimulation (e.g., light, sound, projections, blowing bubbles, tactile feel, aromas) to different senses. Most of prior research on iMSEs investigates their use for persons with disabilities (e.g., autism). Our work focuses on the use of iMSEs in primary education contexts and for mixed groups of young students, i.e., children with and without disability. The paper describes the latest version of an iMSE called Magic Room that has been installed in two local schools. We report two empirical studies devoted to understand how the Magic Room could be used in inclusive educational settings, and to explore its potential benefits.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376343
Science simulations are widely used in classrooms to support inquiry-based learning of complex science concepts. These tools typically rely on interactive visual displays to convey relationships. Auditory displays, including verbal description and sonification (non-speech audio), combined with alternative input capabilities, may provide an enhanced experience for learners, particularly learners with visual impairment. We completed semi-structured interviews and usability testing with eight adult learners with visual impairment for two audio-enhanced simulations. We analyzed trends and edge cases in participants' interaction patterns, interpretations, and preferences. Findings include common interaction patterns across simulation use, increased efficiency with second use, and the complementary role that description and sonification play in supporting learning opportunities. We discuss how these control and display layers work to encourage exploration and engagement with science simulations. We conclude with general and specific design takeaways to support the implementation of auditory displays for accessible simulations.
Manual device interaction requires precise coordination which may be difficult for users with motor impairments. Muscle interfaces provide alternative interaction methods that may enhance performance, but have not yet been evaluated for simple (eg. mouse tracking) and complex (eg. driving) continuous tasks. Control theory enables us to probe continuous task performance by separating user input into intent and error correction to quantify how motor impairments impact device interaction. We compared the effectiveness of a manual versus a muscle interface for eleven users without and three users with motor impairments performing continuous tasks. Both user groups preferred and performed better with the muscle versus the manual interface for the complex continuous task. These results suggest muscle interfaces and algorithms that can detect and augment user intent may be especially useful for future design of interfaces for continuous tasks.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376224
Patients with mild intellectual disabilities (ID) face significant communication barriers within primary care services. This has a detrimental effect on the quality of treatment being provided, meaning the consultation process could benefit from augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies. However, little research has been conducted in this area beyond that of paper-based aids. We address this by extracting design requirements for a clinical AAC tablet application from n=10 adults with mild ID. Our results show that such technologies can promote communication between general practitioners (GPs) and patients with mild ID by extracting symptoms in advance of the consultation via an accessible questionnaire. These symptoms act as a referent and assist in raising the awareness of conditions commonly overlooked by GPs. Furthermore, the application can support people with ID in identifying and accessing healthcare services. Finally, the participants identified 6 key factors that affect the clarity of medical images.
Senorita is a novel two-thumb virtual chorded keyboard for mobile devices. It arranges the letters on eight keys in a single row by the bottom edge of the device based on letter frequencies and the anatomy of the thumbs. Unlike most chorded methods, it provides visual cues to perform the chording actions in sequence, instead of simultaneously, when the actions are unknown, facilitating "learning by doing". Its compact design leaves most of the screen available and its position near the edge accommodates eyes-free text entry. In a longitudinal study with a smartphone, Senorita yielded on average 14 wpm. In a short-term study with a tablet, it yielded on average 9.3 wpm. In the final longitudinal study, it yielded 3.7 wpm with blind users, surpassing their Qwerty performance. Low vision users yielded 5.8 wpm. Further, almost all users found Senorita effective, easy to learn, and wanted to keep use it.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376576