BlindSense: An Accessibility-inclusive Universal User Interface for Blind People
Abstract
A large number of blind people use smartphone-based assistive technology to perform their common activities. In order to provide a better user experience the existing user interface paradigm needs to be revisited. A new user interface model has been proposed in this paper. A simplified, semantically consistent, and blind-friendly adaptive user interface is provided. The proposed solution is evaluated through an empirical study on 63 blind people leveraging an improved user experience in performing common activities on a smartphone.
Keywords:
adaptive UI, blind people, smartphone, blind-friendlyDownloads
References
J. A. Kientz, S. N. Patel, A. Z. Tyebkhan, B. Gane, J. Wiley, G. D. Abowd, “Where's my stuff?: design and evaluation of a mobile system for locating lost items for the visually impaired”, 8th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, Portland, USA, pp. 103-110, October 23-25, 2006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1168987.1169006
J. R. Fruchterman, “In the palm of your hand: a vision of the future of technology for people with visual impairments”, Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, Vol. 97, No. 10, pp. 585-591, 2003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0145482X0309701003
J. McCarthy, P. Wright, “Technology as experience”, Interactions, Vol. 11, No. 5, pp. 42-43, 2004 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1015530.1015549
L. Hakobyan, J. Lumsden, D. O’Sullivan, H. Bartlett, “Mobile assistive technologies for the visually impaired”, Survey of Ophthalmology, Vol. 58, No. 6, pp. 513-528, 2013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.survophthal.2012.10.004
F. F.-H. Nah, D. Zhang, J. Krogstie, S. Zhao, “Editorial of the special issue on mobile human-computer interaction”, International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, Vol. 33, No. 6, pp. 429-430, 2017 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2017.1312884
B. Adipat, D. Zhang, “Interface design for mobile applications”, AMCIS 2005 Proceedings, AIS Electronic Library, p. 494, 2005
B. Leporini, F. Paterno, “Applying web usability criteria for vision-impaired users: does it really improve task performance?”, International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 17-47, 2008 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10447310701771472
W3C, Web Accessibility Initiative, available at: http://www.w3.org/
WAI/
P. A. Akiki, A. K. Bandara, Y. Yu, “Adaptive model-driven user interface development systems”, ACM Computing Surveys, Vol. 47, No. 1, 2015 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/2597999
D. Weld, C. Anderson, P. Domingos, O. Etzioni, K. Gajos, T. Lau, S. Wolfman, “Automatically personalizing user interfaces”, IJCAI' 03 18th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Acapulco, Mexico, pp. 1613-1619, 2003
A. Bhowmick, S. M. Hazarika, “An insight into assistive technology for the visually impaired and blind people: state-of-the-art and future trends”, Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 149-172, 2017 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12193-016-0235-6
W. Grussenmeyer, E. Folmer, “Accessible touchscreen technology for people with visual impairments: a survey”, ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing, Vol. 9, No. 2, Article No. 6, 2017 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3022701
H. Sieverthson, M. Lund, Usability challenges for the mobile web: an enterprise perspective, BSc Thesis, University of Bora, 2017
S. K. Kane, C. Jayant, J. O. Wobbrock, R. E. Ladner, “Freedom to roam: a study of mobile device adoption and accessibility for people with visual and motor disabilities”, in: Proceedings of the 11th international ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, pp. 115-122, ACM, 2009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1639642.1639663
P. Strumillo, P. Skulimowski, M. Polanczyk, “Programming Symbian smartphones for the blind and visually impaired”, in: Computers in Medical Activity, Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing, Vol 65. pp. 129-136, Springer, 2009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04462-5_13
M. L. Dorigo, B. Harriehausen-Mühlbauer, I. Stengel, P. S. Haskell-Dowland, “Nonvisual presentation and navigation within the structure of digital text-documents on mobile devices”, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 8011, pp. 311-320, 2013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39194-1_37
R. J. P. Damaceno, J. C. Braga, J. P. Mena-Chalco, “Mobile device accessibility for the visually impaired: problems mapping and recommendations”, in: Universal Access in the Information Society, pp. 1-15, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelber, 2017
G. E. Legge, P. J. Beckmann, B. S. Tjan, G. Havey, K. Kramer, D. Rolkosky, R. Cage, M. Chen, S. Puchakayala, A. Rangarajan, “Indoor navigation by people with visual impairment using a digital sign system”, PloS one, Vol. 8, No. 10, p. e76783, 2013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0076783
M. Rodriguez-Sanchez, M. Moreno-Alvarez, E. Martin, S. Borromeo, J. Hernandez-Tamames, “Accessible smartphones for blind users: A case study for a wayfinding system”, Expert Systems with Applications, Vol. 41, No. 16, pp. 7210-7222, 2014 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2014.05.031
E. Brady, M. R. Morris, Y. Zhong, S. White, J. P. Bigham, “Visual challenges in the everyday lives of blind people”, SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Paris, France, pp. 2117-2126, 2013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/2470654.2481291
N. Mi, L. A. Cavuoto, K. Benson, T. Smith-Jackson, M. A. Nussbaum, “A heuristic checklist for an accessible smartphone interface design”, Universal Access in the Information Society, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 351-365, 2014 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-013-0321-4
M. C. Buzzi, M. Buzzi, B. Leporini, A. Trujillo, “Analyzing visually impaired people’s touch gestures on smartphones”, Multimedia Tools and Applications, Vol. 76, No. 4, pp. 5141-5169, 2017 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-016-3594-9
T. Paek, D. M. Chickering, “Improving command and control speech recognition on mobile devices: using predictive user models for language modeling”, User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction, Vol. 17, No. 1-2, pp. 93-117, 2007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11257-006-9021-6
J. P. Bigham, A. C. Cavender, J. T. Brudvik, J. O. Wobbrock, R. E. Lander, “WebinSitu: a comparative analysis of blind and sighted browsing behavior”, 9th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, Tempe, USA, pp. 51-58, 2007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1296843.1296854
S. K. Kane, J. O. Wobbrock, R. E. Ladner, “Usable gestures for blind people: understanding preference and performance”, Proceedings of the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Vancouver, Canada, pp. 413-422, May 7-12, 2011 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1978942.1979001
P. Szekely, P. Luo, R. Neches, “Beyond interface builders: model-based interface tools”, in : Proceedings of the INTERACT '93 and CHI '93 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM, pp. 383-390, 1993 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/169059.169305
J. Abascal, C. Nicolle, “Moving towards inclusive design guidelines for socially and ethically aware HCI”, Interacting with Computers, Vol. 17, No. 5, pp. 484-505, 2005 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intcom.2005.03.002
U. Persad, P. Langdon, J. Clarkson, “Characterising user capabilities to support inclusive design evaluation”, Universal Access in the Information Society, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 119-135, 2007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-007-0083-y
O. Plos, S. Buisine, A. Aoussat, F. Mantelet, C. Dumas, “A Universalist strategy for the design of Assistive Technology”, International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, Vol. 42, No. 6, pp. 533-541, 2012 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ergon.2012.09.003
J. P. Forgas, “Mood and judgment: the affect infusion model (AIM)”, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 117, No. 1, pp. 39-66, 1995 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.117.1.39
K. J. Kim, S. S. Sundar, “Does screen size matter for smartphones? Utilitarian and hedonic effects of screen size on smartphone adoption”, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Vol. 17, No. 7, pp. 466-473, 2014 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2013.0492
J. Maeda, The Laws of Simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life), MIT Press, 2006
Downloads
How to Cite
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain the copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) after its publication in ETASR with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
