Evaluating a Tool for Improving Accessibility to Charts and Graphs
ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI)
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Blind and visually impaired students need special educational and developmental tools to allow them to interact with graphic entities on PDA and desktop platforms. In previous research, stylus movements regarding the hidden graph were sonified with three directional-predictive sound (DPS) signals, taking into account an exploration behavior and the concept of the capture radius. The results indicated that the scanpaths were by 24–40% shorter in length and task completion times decreased by 20–25%. The goal of the study presented in this paper was to measure and compare the subjective performance recorded with directional-predictive vibrations (DPV) regarding the subjective performance achieved when the hidden graphic images were explored with DPS. The study also aimed to find out which kind of feedback cues would require less cognitive efforts in interpreting their meaning. The prototype of vibro-tactile pen with embedded vibration motor was used to produce DPV instead of sounds. The performance of eight blindfolded subjects was investigated in terms of the number of both feedbacks used and the time spent to complete non-visual inspection of the hidden graphs. There was a statistically significant difference between the average number of DPS and vibrations and task completion time taken by the players to discover the features of hidden graphs being explored with different capture radius. The experimental findings confirmed the beneficial use of DPS signals in the task when cross-modal coordination should benefit the user in the absence of visual information when compared with DPV patterns.