Dementia describes a syndrome of cognitive degeneration, and Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD) is the non-cognitive symptom. BPSD can be improved by care services. To aid better care service, we explore the potential of using Augmented Reality (AR) to support dementia education for medical workers in three steps: (1) We explore medical workers' perspective on dementia care lived experience and XR, (2) we co-design an educational experience containing an AR-based application and a 5-min activity with medical workers, (3) we evaluate the effectiveness of the system through a mixed method study. Our result shows that the AR experience successfully touches participants, and motivates them to reflect on the provision of care service. On this basis, we discuss the elements and challenges of designing XR-enabled dementia education for users unfamiliar with novel technology, and the potential of using XR in clinical education.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581009
Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used as a platform for social interaction, including as a means for elders to maintain engagement. However, not many empirical studies have been conducted to examine features of social VR that are most relevant to elders’ experiences. The current study qualitatively analyzed the behavior of older adults in a collaborative VR environment and evaluated aspects of design that affected their engagement outcomes. We paired 36 participants over the age of 60 from three diverse geographic locations to interact in collaborative VR modules. Video-based observation methods and thematic analyses were used to study their interactions. The results indicated a strong link between conversations about personal lives in VR and social engagement, highlighting the need for social VR to encourage users to create their own stories and share their life experiences. The study provides new insights into design guidelines that could improve social VR for older adults.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581262
Inclusive workplaces require mutual efforts between neurotypical (NT) and neurodivergent (ND) employees to understand one another’s viewpoints and experiences. Currently, the majority of inclusivity training places the burden of change on NDs to conform to NT social-behavioral standards. Our research examines moving toward a more equal effort distribution by exploring virtual reality (VR) design opportunities to build NTs’ understanding of ND workplace experiences. Using participatory design, including generative toolkits and design meetings, we surfaced two main themes that could bridge gaps in understanding: (1) NTs’ recognition of NDs’ strengths and efforts at work, and (2) NTs’ understanding of NDs’ differences. We present a strengths-based assessment of ND traits in the workplace, focusing on how workplaces can support NDs’ success. Finally, we propose VR simulation designs that communicate these themes to represent ND experiences, emphasizing their strengths and viewpoints so that NT co-workers can better empathize and accommodate them.
With improvements in automated speech recognition and increased use of videoconferencing, real-time captioning has changed significantly. This shift toward broadly available but less accurate captioning invites exploration of the role hearing conversation partners play in shaping the accessibility of a conversation to d/Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) captioning users. While recent work has explored DHH individuals’ videoconferencing experiences with captioning, we focus on established groups’ current practices and priorities for future tools to support more accessible online conversations. Our study consists of three codesign sessions, conducted with four groups (17 participants total, 10 DHH, 7 hearing). We found that established groups crafted social accessibility norms that met their relational contexts. We also identify promising directions for future captioning design, including the need to standardize speaker identification and customization, opportunities to provide behavioral feedback during a conversation, and ways that videoconferencing platforms could enable groups to set and share norms.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3580809
Captions make the audio content of videos accessible and understandable for deaf or hard-of-hearing people (DHH). However, in real-time captioning scenarios, captions alone can be challenging for DHH users to identify the active speaker in real time in multiple-speaker scenarios. To enhance the accessibility of real-time captioning, we propose Haptic-Captioning which provides real-time vibration feedback on the wrist by directly translating the sound of content into vibrations. We conducted three experiments to examine: (1) the haptic perception (Preliminary Study), (2) the feasibility of the haptic modality along with real-time and non-real-time visual captioning methods (Study 1), and (3) the user experience of using the Haptic-Captioning system in different media contexts (Study 2). Our results highlight that the Haptic-Captioning complements visual captions by improving caption readability, maintaining media engagement, enhancing understanding of emotions, and assisting speaker indication in real-time captioning scenarios. Furthermore, we discuss design implications for the future development of Haptic-Captioning.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581076
This work studies the experiences of people who stutter (PWS) with videoconferencing (VC) and VC technologies. Our interview study with 13 adults who stutter uncovers extra challenges introduced by current VC platforms to people who stutter. While some of the challenges are a direct result of the characteristics of stuttering (e.g. people/systems mistaking pauses as end of turn), a bigger yet less visible challenge comes with the significant amount of emotional and cognitive effort required to manage one’s speech and identity over VC, in which people’s existing communication strategies - such as body language and eye contact - are under-supported and their biggest discomfort - such as seeing oneself stutter - are exacerbated by preset features like self view. Overall, our work sheds light on the structural barriers and the opportunities for PWS to engage and enjoy virtual communications via VC technologies.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3580788