Read for me: developing a mobile based application for both visually impaired and illiterate users to tackle reading challenge

Abstract

Abstract In recent years, there have been several attempts to help visually impaired and illiterate people to overcome their reading limitations through developing different applications. However, most of these applications are based on physical button interaction and avoid the use of touchscreen devices. This research mainly aims to find a solution that helps both visually impaired and illiterate people to read texts present in their surroundings through a touchscreen-based application. The study also attempts to discover the possibility of building one application that could be used by both type of users and find out whether they would use it in the same efficiency. Therefore, a requirements elicitation study was conducted to identify the users’ requirements and their preferences and so build an interactive interface for both visually impaired and illiterate users. The study resulted in several design considerations, such as using voice instructions, focusing on verbal feedback, and eliminating buttons. Then, the reader mobile application was designed and built based on these design preferences. Finally, an evaluation study was conducted to measure the usability of the developed application. The results revealed that both sight impaired and illiterate users could benefit from the same mobile application, as they were satisfied with using it and found it efficient and effective. However, the measures from the evaluation sessions also reported that illiterate users had used the develop app more efficiently and effectively. Moreover, they were more satisfied, especially with the application’s ease of use.