Austin, Victoria;
Ayoka, Gifty;
Barbareschi, Giulia;
Cave, Richard;
Holloway, Catherine;
(2025)
Exploring the Usability of Gaze-based Mobile Communication in Ghana.
In:
Proceedings of the 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility.
(pp. pp. 1-20).
ACM (Association for Computing Machinery): New York, NY, USA.
(In press).
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Abstract
In Ghana, people with communication challenges could beneft from gaze-based Augmented and Assistive Communication devices (AACs), widely used in countries with greater resources. However, there is limited evidence about the potential of such devices by people with communication disabilities in the Global South. Our study sought to evaluate the usability, identifying barriers and facilitators of adoption of a freely available Android-based eye-gaze AAC application called Look to Speak. The study included training of 10 local speech and language therapists and 15 people with communication difculties. Our fndings highlight how, despite some initial successes and the positive opinions of clients, caregivers and speech and language therapists the Look to Speak application largely failed to deliver substantial communication benefts to individual users. This was due to a combination of factors including the high cognitive load, design faws of the application - such as the lack of optimization of the selection process depending on the chosen interaction mode, and lack of wheelchairs with adequate postural support, which are necessary for users to be able to successfully utilise the application. We contribute insights surrounding the mismatch between expectations and reality of gaze-base AACs, and considerations about the broader ecosystem required to support adoption and impact of such technologies in Ghana.
| Type: | Proceedings paper |
|---|---|
| Title: | Exploring the Usability of Gaze-based Mobile Communication in Ghana |
| Event: | 27th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility |
| Location: | Denver, Colorado, USA |
| Dates: | 26 Oct 2025 - 29 Oct 2025 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Publisher version: | https://assets25.sigaccess.org/ |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Computer Science |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10210053 |
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