A story of pivoting, empathizing and accessibility.
This was a conceptual academic case study for a theoretical company called AUDILINK.
ROLE/TIMEFRAME
UX/UI Designer & Researcher
Two-week sprint
200+ hours
PROCESS/METHODS
Research & Synthesis: Surveys, interviews, affinity mapping & user personas
Ideation & Delivery: Building a solution, rapid prototyping, usability testing
TOOLS
Photoshop
Figma
Miro
THE PROBLEM
The lack of accessibility like Closed Captioning in certain digital spaces for those who are hard of hearing or deaf, makes it impossible to engage and participate.
THE SOLUTION
A medically implanted chip that converts all sound in into accurately translated thoughts. This creates a new kind of interfacing system that gives many people who are deaf or hard of hearing the power to listen.
QUICK BEGINNING PIVOT
At first, I initially focused solely on the “Clubhouse” app and the lack of Closed Captioning for those who are deaf and hard of hearing.
Realized I needed to pivot my research needle in a different direction to broaden the survey results and pool of potential interviewees.
Was too focused on what people are already using versus their behaviors and needs.
Revised the survey questions to encompass someone’s entire online experience with Closed Captioning whether they are able to hear, hard of hearing or deaf.
SURVEYS & INTERVIEWS
We put together a survey of 9 questions and got 23 responses. With all of those data points the trends about feelings, needs and behaviors began to emerge.
INTERESTING SURVEY TRENDS
Our interview questions were constructed around understanding how users are currently using closed captioning, their interactions with accessibility options available in other apps and what could possibly replace closed captioning altogether in the future.
A STANDOUT QUOTE FROM THE INTERVIEWS
“There was a horseback riding instructor who wanted to put me in the handicap group just because of my hearing. As I was working on my PhD at the time, and physically able, I couldn’t understand why someone would think I cannot ride just like anyone else. The interesting thing was when we had a substitute instructor, my hearing was no problem at all. The substitute taught me a few signs, asked me to watch her and she showed me what to do. She didn’t mind using a microphone either. That made me understand that it was less my hearing that was the actual problem, but rather other people’s attitudes towards communication barriers and focus on speech.”
- Anna from Sweden
AFFINITY MAPPING THE DATA
DEVELOPING A USER PERSONA FROM THE RESEARCH
Meredith is very hard of hearing, but she doesn’t consider it a disability. It doesn’t stop her from being very engaged in the world around her, especially on social media. She likes knowing about all the new apps her friends are using and makes sure to claim her username on each. Recently, an audio-based chat room social media app came out, but Meredith is unable to participate due to a lack of Closed Captioning.
ANXIETIES/FRUSTRATIONS
Doesn’t feel like every digital space is equally accessible to everyone
Commonly feels left out
Gives up on an unaccommodating platform
GOALS/WANTS
Stay on top of all the new social media network trends
Feel included in all online spaces
“I simply don’t use digital spaces that are not accessible.”
CREATING NEW SOLUTIONS
Ideation sessions were a really interesting way to gain interesting perspective from people who hadn’t been thinking about this idea a lot. This would prove very valuable in where the idea ultimately ended up.
A SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF
After someone in our ideation sessions suggested a brain implant chip that could hear for you — it stuck with me. I couldn’t stop thinking about what that would possibly be like for someone who can’t hear very well, or at all.
We were talking about something far different from a hearing aid.
This something would be attached to the Auditory Cortex part of the brain in a way that would allow sounds to become thoughts a person hears in their mind.
I was a little torn on going down this path because it does require a suspension of disbelief to assume the future medical technology is in place for having one implanted. But we probably aren’t that far off from something like this becoming available in the future.
UNCOVERING THE BASIC USER FLOWS OF AUDILINK
WIREFRAMES & USABILITY TESTING BEGINS
Once basic user flows were down, we began sketching wireframes so that usability testing with them could begin. It would be very basic and low key. I asked the users to point with a pen to the screens and buttons that made sense for achieving a few user goals we came up with.
After running several usability tests this way, we took those sketches into Figma and created digital wireframes with placeholder images.
Here you see the greyscale wireframes are overlaid back and forth with the high fidelity versions.
HIGH FIDELITY SCREENS
Home Screen
Settings Screen
Connect Screen
Support Chat Conversation Screen
Dashboard Screen
Update Screen