Design and evaluation of mobile sensing technologies for identifying medicines by people with visual disabilities

Abstract

Purpose People with visual impairments may have difficulty in identifying information, either on a bottle or package of medicine. As a result, many of them need the help of a third party to discern which medication they should take. In this perspective, this study aims to assist people with visual impairments to identify their medicine by using mobile sensing technologies. Design/methodology/approach The authors have developed three versions of a mobile application. They use three technologies, namely, near field communication, QR code and magnetic field, for drug identification. The entire development process was based on user-centered design. And, the authors also performed an initial usability assessment of these applications with ten users who were blind. Findings Preliminary results show user preference for the near field communication approach and reinforce some known drawbacks concerning the use of QR code by people with visual impairments. Research limitations/implications Although the authors have evaluated these technologies with few mobile devices, they perceived that the acquired values of the magnetic field suffered distortions culminating, in some cases, in a non-identification of the medicine, or even in incorrect identification. Practical implications Current mobile device magnet sensors are not yet robust to be used for medicine identification. Social implications Mobile apps combined with medicine identification can contribute to the autonomy of people who are blind. Originality/value The main contribution of this paper is to integrate and analyze distinct mobile-based sensing technologies for identifying medicines by people with visual impairments.

Assessing the implementation of user-centred design standards on assistive technology for persons with visual impairments: A systematic review

“…User participation in the final stages, namely for evaluating the solutions, was stated by 5 studies: 4 in usability testing [37, 42–44] and 1 in field testing [45]. Involvement, both in the design and testing phases, was reported by 14 studies [23, 26–28, 33–35, 38, 41, 46–50]. Although, it is pertinent to point out that: on the one hand, some studies mention the involvement of the participants at the beginning and at the end of the process, but not in all the stages of the process.…”

“…The use of user-centred evaluation tends to be more explicit, explained and applied in studies that used qualitative methods, such as behavioural observation, think aloud techniques, in-depth interviews, and focus groups, among others these kinds of evaluation methods allow the user’s perspective to be addressed early [21, 23–27, 37–38, 40, 50]. The analysis of the context of use could determine the user’s needs against which the preliminary design solutions will be tested.…”

“…Only two studies described the research team. Facanha et al, stated that the design team included four undergraduate students in the computer sciences, an assistive technology researcher and an ophthalmologist [23]. Shi et al, mentioned that one of the researchers of the team is an expert in education for students with visual impairments, and that they included an accessibility specialist [41].…”

“…This was generally achieved either because they took care to obtain larger samples under previously defined selection criteria or because they selected more appropriate methods (qualitative or mixed) with respect to the objective pursued, or due to both reasons [24-25, 27, 47]. It is also pertinent to highlight the importance of having included stakeholders in these studies [23-25, 27, 40-41, 47-48].…”

Technological Ecosystems That Support People With Disabilities: Multiple Case Studies

“…In a study of children with Down syndrome, the authors observed that virtual reality in Wii games proved beneficial in improving sensory and motor functions, compared to traditional rehabilitation. In another study, Façanha et al (2019) , seeing that people with vision problems may have difficulty accessing medications, worked on mobile applications that helped them identify medications. Such assistive technology has led to direct or indirect improvements in the medical conditions of disabled people.…”