Designing Wearable Mobile Device Controllers for Blind People

Abstract

Blind people get critical information from their mobile phones while traveling. Accessing their phones while on the go, however, can be a cumbersome process as they have to listen to their environment, while holding a cane or a dog harness. We explore the design space and feasibility of using wearable mobile device controllers to make it easier and faster for blind people to access their phones on the go by considering various form factors and on-body placements. We conducted a study with eight blind participants, where the researchers and participants interacted with design probes to design mobile device controllers that operate the screen reader on a smartphone for the following on-body placements: hip, head, hand, and wrist. Most participants preferred wrist- and hand-mounted systems as they were considered to allow for more natural and discreet interfaces. Based on our findings, we designed a smart ring controller, which allows for a small and compact form factor, and only requires one-handed interactions.