A Case Study About Usability, User Experience and Accessibility Problems of Deaf Users with Assistive Technologies

Interaction with mobile devices allows users to have advantages such as flexibility, mobility, and wireless communication. However, challenges have emerged in this interaction context, due to the smaller size of its screens, the new usage contexts, and the limited performance capacity. Usability, User Experience (UX) and Accessibility are quality perspectives used to improve user interaction with mobile devices. Mobile device users include the Deaf community, but some of them can have difficulties when using technologies. Therefore, Assistive Technologies (ATs) (including mobile devices) are inserted in society as important tools to enable better living conditions for their users. Moreover, it is relevant that technologies provide good interaction and help Deaf users to deal with their daily tasks. However, some available ATs have Usability, UX and Accessibility problems, such as displeasure and failures in the operational part of the ATs. We report an exploratory study with the purpose to investigate (a) if Deaf people use ATs when using mobile devices, and if so, what ATs they use; (b) what difficulties Deaf people encounter when using ATs; and c) how to overcome difficulties when using ATs. The study followed a qualitative research methodology where the data were obtained through questionnaires and observation of users performing tasks in ATs. Through the Grounded Theory method, it was possible to identify difficulties and barriers from the Usability, UX and Accessibility perspectives.