chapter 10

universal design
universal design overview

• Designing systems to be used by anyone under any

conditions
• Multi-modal systems use more than one human input
channel in the interaction
– Speech
– Non-speech sound
– Touch
– Handwriting
– Gestures
• Universal Design designing for diversity
– Sensory, physical or cognitive impairment
– Different ages
– Different cultures & backgrounds
universal design principles
- NCSW
• equitable use
• flexibility in use
• simple and intuitive to use
• perceptible information
• tolerance for error
• low physical effort
• size and space for approach and use
universal design principles
- NCSW
• Smooth ground surfaces of entranceways, without stairs
• Wide interior doors and hallways
• Lever handles for opening doors rather than twisting knobs
• Light switches with large flat panels rather than small toggle
switches
• Buttons on control panels that can be distinguished by touch
• Bright and appropriate lighting, particularly task lighting
• Auditory output redundant with information on visual
displays
• Visual output redundant with information in auditory output
universal design principles
- NCSW
• Contrast controls on visual output
• Use of meaningful icons as well as text labels
• Clear lines of sight (to reduce dependence on sound)
• Volume controls on auditory output
• Speed controls on auditory output
• Choice of language on speech output
• Ramp access in swimming pools
• Closed captioning on television networks
universal design principles
- NCSW
• Website Accessibility
• Bobby software
– The original Bobby was a free online tool, written by Josh Krieger and
provided by the Centre for Applied Special Technology (CAST) used to
validate websites for WAI and Section 508 compliance. Launched in 1995
[1], it became well known for the usage of the Bobby Approved icon that

website authors could use to indicate they have successfully passed the
Bobby online test
• http://wave.webaim.org/
Multi-Sensory Systems

• More than one sensory channel in interaction

– e.g. sounds, text, hypertext, animation, video, gestures,
vision
• Used in a range of applications:
– particularly good for users with special needs, and virtual
reality
•  Will cover
– general terminology
– speech
– non-speech sounds
– handwriting
• considering applications as well as principles
Usable Senses
The 5 senses (sight, sound, touch, taste and smell) are
used by us every day
– each is important on its own
– together, they provide a fuller interaction with the natural world

Computers rarely offer such a rich interaction

Can we use all the available senses?

– ideally, yes
– practically – no

We can use • sight • sound • touch

We cannot (yet) use • taste • smell
Multi-modal vs. Multi-media

• Multi-modal systems
– use more than one sense (or mode ) of interaction
e.g. visual and aural senses: a text processor may speak the
words as well as echoing them to the screen

• Multi-media systems
– use a number of different media to communicate
information
e.g. a computer-based teaching system:may use video,
animation, text and still images: different media all using the
visual mode of interaction; may also use sounds, both speech
and non-speech: two more media, now using a different mode
Speech

Human beings have a great and natural

mastery of speech

– makes it difficult to appreciate the

complexities
but
– it’s an easy medium for communication
Structure of Speech

phonemes
– 40 of them
– basic atomic units
– sound slightly different depending on the context
they are in, these larger units are …
allophones
– all the sounds in the language
– between 120 and 130 of them
– these are formed into …
morphemes
– smallest unit of language that has meaning.
Speech (cont’d)

Other terminology:
• prosody
– alteration in tone and quality
– variations in emphasis, stress, pauses and pitch
– impart more meaning to sentences.
• co-articulation
– the effect of context on the sound
– transforms the phonemes into allophones
• syntax – structure of sentences
• semantics – meaning of sentences
Speech Recognition Problems

• Different people speak differently:

– accent, intonation, stress, idiom, volume, etc.
• The syntax of semantically similar sentences may vary.
• Background noises can interfere.
• People often “ummm.....” and “errr.....”
• Words not enough - semantics needed as well
– requires intelligence to understand a sentence
– context of the utterance often has to be known
– also information about the subject and speaker
e.g. even if “Errr.... I, um, don’t like this” is recognised, it is a fairly
useless piece of information on it’s own
The Phonetic Typewriter
• Developed for Finnish (a phonetic language, written as it is said)

• Trained on one speaker, will generalise to others.

• A neural network is trained to cluster together similar
sounds, which are then labelled with the corresponding
character.
• When recognising speech, the sounds uttered are
allocated to the closest corresponding output, and the
character for that output is printed.
– requires large dictionary of minor variations to correct general
mechanism
– noticeably poorer performance on speakers it has not been trained
on
The Phonetic Typewriter (ctd)

a a a ah h æ æ ø ø e e e

o a a h r æ l ø y y j i

o o a h r r r g g y j i

o o m a r m n m n j i i

l o u h v vm n n h hj j j

l u v v p d d t r h hi j

. . u v tk k p p p r k s

. . v k pt t p t p h s s
Speech Recognition: useful?

• Single user or limited vocabulary systems

e.g. computer dictation
• Open use, limited vocabulary systems can work
satisfactorily
e.g. some voice activated telephone systems
• general user, wide vocabulary systems …
… still a problem
• Great potential, however
– when users hands are already occupied
e.g. driving, manufacturing
– for users with physical disabilities
– lightweight, mobile devices
Speech Synthesis

The generation of speech

Useful
– natural and familiar way of receiving information
Problems
– similar to recognition: prosody particularly

Additional problems
– intrusive - needs headphones, or creates noise in the
workplace
– transient - harder to review and browse
Speech Synthesis: useful?

Successful in certain constrained applications

when the user:
– is particularly motivated to overcome problems
– has few alternatives

Examples:
• screen readers
– read the textual display to the user
utilised by visually impaired people
• warning signals
– spoken information sometimes presented to pilots whose
visual and haptic skills are already fully occupied
Non-Speech Sounds

boings, bangs, squeaks, clicks etc.

• commonly used for warnings and alarms

• Evidence to show they are useful

– fewer typing mistakes with key clicks
– video games harder without sound

• Language/culture independent, unlike speech

Non-Speech Sounds: useful?

• Dual mode displays:

– information presented along two different sensory
channels
– redundant presentation of information
– resolution of ambiguity in one mode through information in
another
• Sound good for
– transient information
– background status information

e.g. Sound can be used as a redundant mode in the Apple

Macintosh; almost any user action (file selection, window
active, disk insert, search error, copy complete, etc.) can have
a different sound associated with it.
Auditory Icons
• Use natural sounds to represent different types of
object or action
• Natural sounds have associated semantics which can be
mapped onto similar meanings in the interaction
e.g. throwing something away
~ the sound of smashing glass
• Problem: not all things have associated meanings

• Additional information can also be presented:

– muffled sounds if object is obscured or action is in the
background
– use of stereo allows positional information to be added
SonicFinder for the Macintosh

• items and actions on the desktop have

associated sounds
• folders have a papery noise
• moving files – dragging sound
• copying – a problem …
sound of a liquid being poured into a receptacle
rising pitch indicates the progress of the copy

• big files have louder sound than smaller ones

Earcons

• Synthetic sounds used to convey information

• Structured combinations of notes (motives )
represent actions and objects
• Motives combined to provide rich information
– compound earcons
– multiple motives combined to make one more
complicated earcon
Earcons (ctd)

• family earcons
similar types of earcons represent similar classes of
action or similar objects: the family of “errors” would
contain syntax and operating system errors

• Earcons easily grouped and refined due to

compositional and hierarchical nature

• Harder to associate with the interface task

since there is no natural mapping
touch

• haptic interaction
– cutaneous perception
• tactile sensation; vibrations on the skin
– kinesthetics
• movement and position; force feedback
• information on shape, texture, resistance,
temperature, comparative spatial factors
• example technologies
– electronic braille displays
– force feedback devices e.g. Phantom
• resistance, texture
Handwriting recognition
Handwriting is another communication mechanism which
we are used to in day-to-day life

• Technology
– Handwriting consists of complex strokes and spaces
– Captured by digitising tablet
• strokes transformed to sequence of dots
– large tablets available
• suitable for digitising maps and technical drawings
– smaller devices, some incorporating thin screens to
display the information
• PDAs such as Palm Pilot
• tablet PCs
Handwriting recognition (ctd)

• Problems
– personal differences in letter formation
– co-articulation effects

• Breakthroughs:
– stroke not just bitmap
– special ‘alphabet’ – Graffeti on PalmOS

• Current state:
– usable – even without training
– but many prefer keyboards!
gesture
• applications
– gestural input - e.g. “put that there”
– sign language
• technology
– data glove
– position sensing devices e.g MIT Media Room
• benefits
– natural form of interaction - pointing
– enhance communication between signing and non-signing
users
• problems
– user dependent, variable and issues of coarticulation
Users with disabilities
• visual impairment
– screen readers, SonicFinder
• hearing impairment
– text communication, gesture, captions
• physical impairment
– speech I/O, eyegaze, gesture, predictive systems (e.g. Reactive
keyboard)
• speech impairment
– speech synthesis, text communication
• dyslexia
– speech input, output
• autism
– communication, education
… plus …

• age groups
– older people e.g. disability aids, memory aids,
communication tools to prevent social isolation
– children e.g. appropriate input/output devices,
involvement in design process
• cultural differences
– influence of nationality, generation, gender, race,
sexuality, class, religion, political persuasion etc. on
interpretation of interface features
– e.g. interpretation and acceptability of language,
cultural symbols, gesture and colour