An Extended Usability and UX Evaluation of a Mobile Application for the Navigation of Individuals with Blindness and Visual Impairments Outdoors—An Evaluation Framework Based on Training

Abstract

Navigation assistive technologies have been designed to support the mobility of people who are blind and visually impaired during independent navigation by providing sensory augmentation, spatial information and general awareness of their environment. This paper focuses on the extended Usability and User Experience (UX) evaluation of BlindRouteVision, an outdoor navigation smartphone application that tries to efficiently solve problems related to the pedestrian navigation of visually impaired people without the aid of guides. The proposed system consists of an Android application that interacts with an external high-accuracy GPS sensor tracking pedestrian mobility in real-time, a second external device specifically designed to be mounted on traffic lights for identifying traffic light status and an ultrasonic sensor for detecting near-field obstacles along the route of the blind. Moreover, during outdoor navigation, it can optionally incorporate the use of Public Means of Transport, as well as provide multiple other uses such as dialing a call and notifying the current location in case of an emergency. We present findings from a Usability and UX standpoint of our proposed system conducted in the context of a pilot study, with 30 people having varying degrees of blindness. We also received feedback for improving both the available functionality of our application and the process by which the blind users learn the features of the application. The method of the study involved using standardized questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The evaluation took place after the participants were exposed to the system’s functionality via specialized user-centered training sessions organized around a training version of the application that involves route simulation. The results indicate an overall positive attitude from the users.

A Training Smartphone Application for the Simulation of Outdoor Blind Pedestrian Navigation: Usability, UX Evaluation, Sentiment Analysis

“…With the aid of interviews, we achieved that and identified the various cognitive processes (e.g., allocentric, egocentric, and the like) that are employed during navigation. Furthermore, we recognized various psychological constructs (interest, focus, enjoyment, and the like) that can be used to create more appealing and acceptable applications [ 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 ].…”

“…The user interacts with the system via an appropriately designed voice interface to enable fast and accurate interaction. Upon the user’s selection of a destination, the system requests information from the Google Maps service and feeds the received data into a novel routing algorithm [ 48 ]. In case the user selects to include the use of public transportation, the application requests from the Athens Public Bus Transportation (OASA) real-time telematics service information relevant to the available schedules and bus stops.…”

“…In order to evaluate the Usability and User Experience of the training application, we capitalized on the results from a previous research attempt [ 48 ] to search the literature for commonly used tools and methods, and definitions as well. There we discovered that there is neither consensus on the method used to assess both Usability and User Experience nor a commonly agreed definition of the concepts involved as a matter of fact, and typically, a combination of tools and methods are employed, the majority of which are based on questionnaires.…”

“…Despite the disagreement in the field, a prominent definition that stands out is the ISO/IEC 25,010 2011 [ 63 ] standard where usability is defined as “the degree to which a product or system can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use”. This definition of Usability has the added feature of incorporating User Experience as one of its components under the name of satisfaction [ 48 ]. In our experiment and in accordance with the above standard, we utilized the measures of effectiveness and efficiency to quantitively assess Usability and the modular extension of the popular User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ+) to assess the dimension of satisfaction.…”

“…Effectiveness and efficiency measure the degree to which users can complete a task and the time it takes users to complete a task, respectively. For our case, we employed the following tasks [ 48 ] where we requested that users (1) select and traverse a route “virtually”, (2) combine a route with the use of Public Transportation, and (3) pass a traffic light crossing. The participants completed these tasks after they had been shown earlier how to utilize the training application.…”