Analysing Touchscreen Gestures: A Study Based on Individuals with Down Syndrome Centred on Design for All

Abstract

There has been a conscious shift towards developing increasingly inclusive applications. However, despite this fact, most research has focused on supporting those with visual or hearing impairments and less attention has been paid to cognitive impairments. The purpose of this study is to analyse touch gestures used for touchscreens and identify which gestures are suitable for individuals living with Down syndrome (DS) or other forms of physical or cognitive impairments. With this information, app developers can satisfy Design for All (DfA) requirements by selecting adequate gestures from existing lists of gesture sets. Twenty touch gestures were defined for this study and a sample group containing eighteen individuals with Down syndrome was used. A tool was developed to measure the performance of touch gestures and participants were asked to perform simple tasks that involved the repeated use of these twenty gestures. Three variables are analysed to establish whether they influence the success rates or completion times of gestures, as they could have a collateral effect on the skill with which gestures are performed. These variables are Gender, Type of Down syndrome, and Socioeconomic Status. Analysis reveals that significant difference is present when a pairwise comparison is performed, meaning individuals with DS cannot perform all gestures with the same ease. The variables Gender and Socioeconomic Status do not influence success rates or completion times, but Type of DS does.

Bridging the Communication Gap Between People With Cognitive Impairments and Their Caregivers Using mHealth Apps: User-Centered Design and Evaluation Study With People With 22q11 Deletion Syndrome

“…This confirms the conclusion from other research that remote interventions with this target group can be successful [ 21 ]. It also confirms the earlier presumption that no motorical difficulties would arise, as children with Down syndrome were shown to be able to use mobile apps as well in earlier research [ 22 , 23 ].…”

“…This highlights the feasibility of any form of remote intervention for people with 22q11 DS. Furthermore, people with Down syndrome showed there are no hurdles to using any sort of touch gesture on a touchscreen [ 22 , 23 ]. As people with 22q11 DS likely have the same or better motoric abilities, this is an essential argument for the viability of an mHealth resource to support people with 22q11 DS.…”

Evaluating performance on a bespoke maths game with children with Down syndrome

“…Nacher et al (2018) describe the frustration and disenchantment when imprecise movements had unintended consequences for their primary aged children with DS. Martin‐Gutierrez and Del Rio Guerra (2021) provide a comparative list for different gestures‐ with higher success rates for tap, touch and hold, stretch, slide and separate, drawing on an analysis of gesture completion times, success rate and object size on a purpose‐built gaming App. Their qualitative data also indicates the importance of getting this interface right with participants getting very frustrated when they stopped the gesture too soon and were unable to finish the task; and when a double tap response led to errors.…”

“…Our field notes revealed that although some pupils found dragging the spots onto the footpath difficult due to their size, all were sufficiently motivated to do so, and it reinforced the notion of a numberline (Siegler & Ramani, 2009), while also providing fine motor practice. During the development phase we introduced sound to indicate that the spot was in place offsetting potential frustration of completing the activity (Martin-Gutierrez et al, 2021) and providing a better fit between the task and the child's motor skills (Nacher et al, 2018).…”

Design and Development of Sound and Rhythm Perception Assessment Application for Students with Hearing Impairment

“…The results showed that the literacy level significantly affects one's ability to detect phonemic categories accurately [35]. Learning by listening to rhythms has also assisted athletic movements in the body [36], [37]. Reduced rhythm perception may be related to difficulties synchronizing movements with rhythm and may determine how much students benefit from rhythm training [38].…”