Towards a Training Framework for Improved Assistive Mobile App Acceptance and Use Rates by Blind and Visually Impaired People

Abstract

The development of mobile apps, which are either suitably adapted or especially designed for use by sensory-deprived people, have contributed significantly to the continuously increasing adoption of digital assistive technologies by people with disabilities. Throughout the design of two assistive navigation mobile apps for blind and visually impaired people (BVI), a set of everyday practices and psychological features of the BVIs with respect to the use of mobile technology was identified. Specifically, interviews with BVIs were held at the first stage of the design process. The analysis of the responses revealed that appropriate training of a BVI on how to use these apps plays significant role on the anticipated app adoption and use rate. This study presents the everyday practices and psychological features of the BVIs, as they were inferred from the analysis of the interviews. It is argued that these psychological features and practices must be considered in the development of training practices concerning the use of the proposed technology. Towards this direction, a framework for the adequate training of BVIs on the use of assistive mobile apps is presented. Consideration of this framework during the development of assistive mobile apps for BVIs could contribute towards higher adoption rates.

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

“…The first step of this participatory design is to create an understanding of users' needs [61]. Thus, we start with the needs assessment and, since the broader social context affects these needs, we also have to take into consideration the social constraints.…”

“…Thus, we start with the needs assessment and, since the broader social context affects these needs, we also have to take into consideration the social constraints. We assume that individuals who are blind have similar skills as do the sighted, but that the richness of their environmental information is severely hampered [61]. Conducting interviews with the disabled population helped to unearth the cognitive processes involved during navigation, a requirement of this design approach, for enabling the functional needs assessment.…”

“…Conducting interviews with the disabled population helped to unearth the cognitive processes involved during navigation, a requirement of this design approach, for enabling the functional needs assessment. The benefits of these activities are all about making the practices explicit, including stated preferences, habits and psychological features of blind and visually impaired individuals with respect to the use of mobile technology [61], as well as the multiple psychological constructs, such as interest, focus, enjoyment [62,63] and the benefit of usage [64]. For example, visually impaired users prefer routes that are often not the shortest ones, but are based on users' proficiency and preferences [65].…”

“…The UEQ+ framework currently offers several UX scales. After careful consideration of the challenges, of the results of the user requirements elicitation stage [61,80], by which the blind and visually impaired users become part of the process of defining the evaluation criteria, and of the importance ratings given by the blind users to a preselected set of scales, we concluded that the following scales best describe the UX impression for the features that are deemed to have a higher value. Based on the available categories of UEQ+, the following were selected particularly for our case:…”

“…The benefit of this activity is that we can further solidify the validity of the findings. Our framework also emphasizes user participation into the process of defining the evaluation criteria by incorporating needs, beliefs, opinions, characteristics, personality and attitudes that were the result of the user requirements' elicitation stage [61,80]. In addition, it includes user-centered courses incorporated in the existing O&M courses of the Lighthouse for the Blind of Greece with the cooperation of the instructors.…”