Universal access: user needs for immersive captioning

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Accessibility Research
• Virtual and Augmented Reality

Background:

• Existing research highlights a need for improved captioning in immersive environments.
• User requirements for immersive captioning are not fully understood, presenting research opportunities.
• A user-centric approach is crucial for developing effective immersive captioning solutions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a prototyping framework for immersive captioning based on a user-centric methodology.
• To identify optimal methods for displaying captions in immersive environments for enhanced user experience.
• To create a testbed for evaluating new immersive captioning features and user interaction methods.

Main Methods:

• A bottom-up, user-centric design approach was employed.
• A two-stage framework development process was implemented, incorporating lessons learned from initial findings.
• The framework integrates existing contrast-and-compare functionalities for rapid prototyping and user testing.

Main Results:

• The development resulted in a functional prototyping framework for immersive captioning.
• The framework facilitated the identification of new caption modes and functionalities.
• The research demonstrated the value of iterative prototyping for eliciting user requirements and creative solutions.

Conclusions:

• A user-centric prototyping framework is effective for advancing immersive captioning technology.
• The developed framework serves as a comprehensive testbed for evaluating captioning across various devices.
• Future work can integrate advanced tools like eye-tracking for further research into optimal immersive captioning display.