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An approach for assessing usability and accessibility of assistive technology for persons with disabilities
Vanessa Nasr1, Mark Benden2, Maryam Zahabi1
1Wm Michael Barnes '64 Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
Abstract:
Assistive technologies can help persons with disabilities (PWD) gain independence and improve their quality of life. However, for these technologies to be helpful, interface design is important to ensure devices can be seamlessly added to everyday life. This study investigates a novel approach to assess the usability of assistive technologies called SUMA - The Single Usability Metric that Accounts for Accessibility. The model includes 13 common measures used to capture website and app usability with special consideration to measure accessibility. To simplify the model, user testing was conducted with PWD, and principal component analysis of the results revealed a subset of dimensions. The finalized SUMA model includes four usability metrics: satisfaction, efficiency, learnability, and accessibility. The model is coded into an Excel workbook enabling other researchers to easily use SUMA to assess the usability of their technologies for PWD. Findings highlighted the importance of capturing accessibility to ensure inclusive design.
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