Vibration-based communication for deafblind people

TL;DR

This paper introduces Morse I/O, a vibrotactile Android interface that enables deafblind users to communicate through text entry and recognition, offering a cost-effective alternative to traditional assistive technologies.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel vibrotactile interface for Android devices designed specifically for deafblind users, demonstrating its effectiveness through experiments and user feedback.

Findings

MIO enables consistent text entry after a few hours of practice.

Participants are willing to continue using MIO despite learning difficulties.

MIO is a portable, cost-effective communication tool for deafblind people.

Abstract

Deafblind people have both hearing and visual impairments, which makes communication with other people often dependent on expensive technologies e.g., Braille displays, or on caregivers acting as interpreters. This paper presents Morse I/O (MIO), a vibrotactile interface for Android, evaluated through experiments and interviews with deafblind participants. MIO was shown to enable consistent text entry and recognition after only a few hours of practice. The participants were willing to continue using the interface, although there were perceived difficulties in learning to use it. Overall, MIO is a cost-effective, portable interface for deafblind people without access to Braille displays or similar.