Vibed: a prototyping tool for haptic game interfaces

Haptics in the form of vibrations in game interfaces have the potential to strengthen visual and audio components, and also improve accessibility for certain populations like people with deafblindness. However, building vibrotactile game interfaces is difficult and time consuming. Our research problem was how to make a prototyping tool that facilitated prototyping of vibrotactile game interfaces for phones and gamepads. The results include a description of the prototyping tool we built, which is called VibEd. It allows designers to draw vibrotactile patterns, referred to as vibes, that can easily be tested on phones and gamepads, and exported to code that can be used in game development. It is concluded, based on user tests, that a haptic game interface prototyping tool such as VibEd, can facilitate haptic game interface design and development, and by that contribute to game accessibility for persons with deafblindness

A low cost adaptive graphical user interface for the visually handicapped with multiple conditions

Limited trials have been demonstrated that a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for the visually handicapped called Dynamic Pattern System (DPS) can adaptively utilize residual vision by generating different patterns, colors and shapes. Low vision simulators, used by normally sighted, have allowed researchers to clearly identify visual impairments that can be helped by DPS. However, it is not uncommon for the visually handicapped to suffer from multiple conditions having a multiplicative degenerative effect on their sight. This paper demonstrates how DPS can be used to assist individuals with compound sight disorders

A comparative study of D2L's Performance with a purpose built E-learning user interface for visual- and hearing-Impaired students

An e-learning system in an academic setting is an efficient tool for all students especially for students with physical impairments. This thesis discusses an e-learning system through the design and development of an e-learning user interface for students with visual- and hearing- impairment. In this thesis the tools and features in the user interface required to make the learning process easy and effective for students with such disabilities have been presented. Further, an integration framework is proposed to integrate the new tools and features into the existing e-learning system Desire-To-Learn (D2L). The tools and features added to the user interface were tested by the selected participants with visually-and hearing- impaired students from Laurentian University’s population. Two questionnaires were filled out to assess the usability methods for both the D2L e-learning user interface at Laurentian University and the new e-learning user interface designed for students with visual and hearing impairment. After collecting and analyzing the data, the results from different usability factors such as effectiveness, ease of use, and accessibility showed that the participants were not completely satisfied with the existing D2L e-learning system, but were satisfied with the proposed new user interface. Based on the new interface, the results showed also that the tools and features proposed for students with visual and hearing impairment can be integrated into the existing D2L e-learning system.Master of Science (MSc) in Computational Science