Towards Accessible Conversations in a Mobile Context for People who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Prior work has explored communication challenges faced by people who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) and the potential role of new captioning and support technologies to address these challenges; however, the focus has been on stationary contexts such as group meetings and lectures. In this paper, we present two studies examining the needs of DHH people in moving contexts (e.g., walking) and the potential for mobile captions on head-mounted displays (HMDs) to support those needs. Our formative study with 12 DHH participants identifies social and environmental challenges unique to or exacerbated by moving contexts. Informed by these findings, we introduce and evaluate a proof-of-concept HMD prototype with 10 DHH participants. Results show that, while walking, HMD captions can support communication access and improve attentional balance between the speakers(s) and navigating the environment. We close by describing open questions in the mobile context space and design guidelines for future technology.