A major telecommunications company sought to understand mobile phone accessibility and usability issues unique to visually impaired users.
Investigate accessibility opportunities in voice technology for visually impaired users
Challenge
A major telecommunications company sought to explore usability issues and challenges unique to visually impaired and blind mobile phone users.
Team members were tasked with investigating existing and prototype hands-free and eyes-free mobile phone features to uncover insights that would guide the design and development of future enhancements.
Approach
100 participants with varying degrees of vision impairment were recruited for this two-phase study.
During contextual interviews, focus groups, and usability testing, participants completed phone tasks using 3 different phones and tested a voice-enabled prototype. Participants were given an opportunity to discuss accessibility issues related to current technology.
Outcome
The research revealed a clear list of features desired by visually impaired users. Participants agreed that they preferred to use the same devices as sighted users as opposed to specialized accessibility devices.
Voice-enabled task flows were found to be intuitive by most participants and research revealed targeted opportunities for feature additions and future development.