Project Overview
This project aimed to address accessibility concerns raised by the National Federation of the Blind regarding the health assessment information provided to visually impaired users. The goal was to create an inclusive user experience for the visually impaired, as well as for those with auditory and mobility impairments, on both the web and kiosk platforms.
To achieve this goal, the project required new hardware and external accessibility experts to guide and teach the technology and user experience team to design and implement accessible experiences. The project spanned two years and involved studying user experience best practices with accessibility experts, including one who was totally blind.
The project's primary objective was to mitigate accessibility issues for low vision, blind, mobility impaired, and hearing impaired users. The ultimate goal was to provide an "Inclusive Experience" that would allow users to launch an accessible experience with minimal interaction with the touch screen. The Inclusive Experience would contain guided audio instructions to guide users through the experience and allow them to obtain Biometric Measurements ("Results") through audio feedback, rather than onscreen display.
To further enhance the Inclusive Experience, the project team incorporated the ability to navigate using an assistive audio navigator tactile keypad. This keypad device offers menu navigation by means of audio direction, allowing users with impaired vision, reading difficulties, or impaired fine motor skills to navigate through menus or directories that would typically be presented on a visual display or touch screen. The screen content is presented and summarized by recorded or synthesized language via a headset or handset, and menu pages and available options can be scanned and selected using this responsive and highly tactile keypad device. Overall, the project aimed to create an inclusive user experience that ensures equitable access to Pursuant Health's health assessment services.
After the implementation of the speech functionality, visually impaired and blind users are able to operate the kiosk using the Audio-Nav keypad while also receiving audio feedback through their connected headphones. The Speech Output mode enables the user to navigate through menus and directories using the tactile keypad and the touch screen, if visible. In addition, users can now blank the screen to reduce visual distractions without affecting the use of the tactile keypad. This can be done when the application opens or by navigating to the "Help" section and selecting the screen blank option. These improvements enhance the inclusivity and accessibility of the kiosk for visually impaired and blind users..
As a result of the project, we integrated a tactile keypad device with an audio-navigation feature that enables users with impaired vision, reading difficulties, or fine motor skill impairments to easily navigate through menus and directories that are typically presented on a visual display or touch screen. The device also includes a speech output interface that is activated when the user connects their headphones to the audio jack on the tactile keypad. This allows the user to operate the kiosk using the Audio-Nav keypad and, if the display is visible, via the touch screen. To further enhance accessibility, we implemented a screen blank option that can be turned on or off when the application opens or by selecting "Help" and navigating to the screen blank option.
