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Designing for the subjective experience of wearable assistive devices
Abstract
The paper addresses the challenge of balancing the tension between a problem solving attitude in the design of assistive devices, with an ethical, aesthetic and cultural approach to design for people living with a temporary or permanent impairment. The topic is developed presenting two design cases. The first case is a suite of smart jewels tailored to the needs of people with hearing impairment (Marti & Recupero, 2019), (Quietude, 2019). The jewels sense environmental sounds (e.g. the doorbell, an alarm, someone calling, a car horn) and notify them to the wearer through different modalities (light patterns, vibrations, shape changes). An App completes the system allowing the deaf person to record personal meaningful sounds and set preferences for their notification. The second case is an orthodontic facemask for children designed as a 3D printed super-hero mask made of biocompatible materials (Marti et al., in press), (SuperPowerMe, 2019). It is associated to a game where a superhero avatar wearing a similar facemask gains power by progressing in an adventure. The design cases represent examples of permanent and temporary impairment that share fundamental features of the user experience: the stigma associated to hearing aids and orthodontic facemasks alters self-image and self-esteem of people affecting all aspects of life. The cases show that design can promote a cultural shift by transforming assistive wearables into beautiful, playful, gender-appropriate accessories.
El bienestar es un tema de gran relevancia por ser un asunto humano de importancia central para la calidad de vida de las personas. Abarca muy diversas dimensiones de la vida humana que, sumadas, logran brindar bienestar integral a todo individuo; entre ellas podemos ubicar la dimensión afectiva que, es posible considerarla incluida en diversos conceptos acuñados desde diferentes ámbitos de estudio –como el denominado “bienestar mental” (ámbito de la medicina), el “bienestar subjetivo” (ámbito de la sociología) o el “bienestar psicológico” (ámbito de la psicología).
La afectividad conjunta emociones, sentimientos y pasiones de una persona. Se trata de constructos que pertenecen a la naturaleza innata del ser humano, que son fundamentales; al ser parte necesaria e inseparable de la cognición que influye en la percepción, en el aprendizaje, la salud, la comunicación y aun en la toma de decisiones –de forma racional–. Sin embargo, por mucho tiempo y todavía en la actualidad, no se le ha dado toda la importancia que tiene. En nuestro mundo contemporáneo, solamente hasta poco antes del final del siglo XX, al fin se ha empezado a tomar conciencia de que nuestro estado emocional determina cómo vivimos y, por lo tanto, nuestro bienestar.
En este marco, nace este libro con el objetivo de plantear la presencia y relevancia de la dimensión afectiva para fomentar bienestar integral en las personas a través del diseño. El texto surge del trabajo permanente de reflexión y discusión de la Red Académica de Diseño y Emociones (RADE) integrada por académicos que, desde diversas instituciones a nivel superior ubicadas alrededor del mundo, desarrollamos nuestra labor de investigación precisamente en relación con el tema “diseño y emoción”.
El presente libro representa el tercer texto de la RADE, convocado en esta ocasión por la inquietud académica de llevar a cabo una exploración-reflexión sobre cuáles pueden ser las aportaciones de la perspectiva emocional del diseño para fomentar y contribuir al bienestar de las personas a largo plazo, y de manera significativa para los individuos y la sociedad. Así, se pretende aportar a la discusión teórica que guía la actividad proyectual en la disciplina del Diseño.
Life expectancy in most countries has been increasing continually over the several few
decades thanks to significant improvements in medicine, public health, as well as personal and
environmental hygiene. However, increased life expectancy combined with falling birth rates are
expected to engender a large aging demographic in the near future that would impose significant
burdens on the socio-economic structure of these countries. Therefore, it is essential to develop
cost-effective, easy-to-use systems for the sake of elderly healthcare and well-being. Remote health
monitoring, based on non-invasive and wearable sensors, actuators and modern communication
and information technologies offers an efficient and cost-effective solution that allows the elderly
to continue to live in their comfortable home environment instead of expensive healthcare facilities.
These systems will also allow healthcare personnel to monitor important physiological signs of
their patients in real time, assess health conditions and provide feedback from distant facilities. In
this paper, we have presented and compared several low-cost and non-invasive health and activity
monitoring systems that were reported in recent years. A survey on textile-based sensors that
can potentially be used in wearable systems is also presented. Finally, compatibility of several
communication technologies as well as future perspectives and research challenges in remote
monitoring systems will be discussed.
Miniature devices have become wearable beyond the form factor of watches or rings---functional devices can now directly affix to the user's skin, unlocking a much wider canvas for electronics. However, building such small and skin-friendly devices currently requires expensive materials and equipment that is mostly found in the medical domain. We present DuoSkin, a fabrication process that affords rapidly prototyping functional devices directly on the user's skin using gold leaf as the key material, a commodity material that is skin-friendly, robust for everyday wear, and user-friendly in fabrication. We demonstrate how gold leaf enables three types of interaction modalities on DuoSkin devices: sensing touch input, displaying output, and communicating wirelessly with other devices. Importantly, DuoSkin incorporates aesthetic customizations found on body decoration, giving form to exposed interfaces that so far have mostly been concealed by covers. Our technical evaluation confirmed that gold leaf was more durable and preferable when affixed to skin than current commodity materials during everyday wear. This makes gold leaf a viable material for users to build functional and compelling on-skin devices. In our workshop evaluation, participants were able to customize their own on-skin music controllers that reflected personal aesthetics.
Stigma regarding hearing loss and hearing aids presents a great challenge, especially because dealing with its consequences in an appropriate and timely manner might be associated with better outcomes for the person with hearing loss, their caregivers, and society. A clear understanding of the stigma concept and its measurement in the area of hearing loss among older adults might advance knowledge in this area and provide better life quality to persons with this problem. The aims of our scoping review were (a) to systematically obtain and evaluate the relevant literature on stigma and hearing loss and (b) to summarize current research findings and draw conclusions for future research and clinical care in this area. A scoping review of the literature published from January 1982 up until December 2014 on stigma and hearing loss among older persons was conducted. Twenty-one relevant publications were identified. Conceptually, the studies concentrated on exploring the meaning and subjective experience associated with stigma, especially public and self stigma. Lacking a theoretical framework, the majority of the studies were based on a description of stigmatic attitudes associated with hearing loss and hearing aids, and they limited themselves to describe almost exclusively the stereotypes associated with hearing-loss and hearing aids. The size and visibility of hearing aids were the main features associated with the reluctance to use them and with the stigma associated with them. More theoretically based and empirically rigorous research is needed in this area.
This paper examines challenges faced in participatory design's confrontation with cultural complexity in contexts of intercultural encounter and transnational exchange. We argue that there is need for more elaborate approaches to culture, technology, and participation in relation to participatory design. By examining issues at the crossroads between knowledge and power, agency and representation we identify a variety of ways in which Postcolonial Theory might inform Participatory Design.
Assistive technology (AT) has the ability to improve the standard of living of those with disabilities, however, it can often be abandoned for aesthetic or stigmatizing reasons. Garment-based AT offers novel opportunities to address these issues as it can stay with the user to continuously monitor and convey relevant information, is non-invasive, and can provide aesthetically pleasing alternatives. In an effort to overcome traditional AT and wearable computing challenges including, cumbersome hardware constraints and social acceptability, we present Flutter, a fashion-oriented wearable AT. Flutter seamlessly embeds low-profile networked sensing, computation, and actuation to facilitate sensory augmentation for those with hearing loss. The miniaturized distributed hardware enables both textile integration and new methods to pair fashion with function, as embellishments are functionally leveraged to complement technology integration. Finally, we discuss future applications and broader implications of using such computationally-enabled textile wearables to support sensory augmentation beyond the realm of AT.
Recent scientific advances allow the use of technology to expand the number of forms of energy that can be perceived by humans. Smart sensors can detect hazards that human sensors are unable to perceive, for example radiation. This fusing of technology to human's forms of perception enables exciting new ways of perceiving the world around us. In this paper we describe the design of SpiderSense, a wearable device that projects the wearer's near environment on the skin and allows for directional awareness of objects around him. The millions of sensory receptors that cover the skin presents opportunities for conveying alerts and messages. We discuss the challenges and considerations of designing similar wearable devices.
To evaluate the acceptability of different intra-oral and extra-oral orthodontic appliances, to rank orthodontic appliances from the most to the least attractive and to investigate the factors that may affect the acceptance of orthodontic treatment.
A random sample of 800 students (schoolchildren and university students) were invited to participate in this study and a total of 688 students were included (86%).
A self-administrated structured questionnaire was constructed for the purpose of this study.
More than one-half in each age group (53%) claimed that they would accept to have orthodontic treatment. Acceptance of the different orthodontic appliances was affected by gender, age and type of school. Removable appliance was reported as the most acceptable and facemask was reported as the least acceptable orthodontic appliances. Majority of subjects ranked ceramic and facemask appliances as the most and the least attractive orthodontic appliances, respectively. The predictor variables for the acceptance of orthodontic treatment were perceived demand for orthodontic treatment, perceived positive effect of orthodontic treatment and expected benefits from orthodontic treatment.
Removable appliance was the most acceptable orthodontic appliance whereas ceramic appliance was ranked as the most attractive one. Facemask was the least acceptable and the least attractive option.
The question whether deafness is a disability causes controversial and emotionally charged debates. The experience of hearing loss is different from the experience of being born deaf, as well as the need and willingness of using hearing aids. Following a medical model of disability, deafness has been traditionally viewed as a physical impairment. This paper points out highly debated issues related to the design of assistive technologies for people with hearing impairment. It illustrates the design case of a suite of smart jewels designed to address their emotional and socio-cultural needs beyond the functional goal of supporting hearing. The design case calls for a shift in the attitude toward disability - from a medical model which sees impairment as a personal deficiency to be “normalized”, to a socio-cultural model which views disability as a socially constructed concept defined by the obstacles of a hearing-oriented world.
As interfaces progress beyond wearables and into intrinsic human augmentation, the human body has become an increasingly important topic in the field of HCI. Wearables already act as a new layer of functionality located on the body that leads us to rethink the convergence between technology and fashion, not just in terms of the ability to wear, but also in how devices interact with us. Already, several options for wearable technology have emerged in the form of clothing and accessories. However, by applying sensors and other computing devices directly onto the body surface, wearables could also be designed as skin interfaces. In this paper, we review the wearability factors impacting wearables as clothes and accessories in order to discuss them in the context of skin interfaces. We classify these wearability factors in terms of body aspects (location, body movements and body characteristics) and device aspects (weight, attachment methods, accessibility, interaction, aesthetics, conductors, insulation, device care, connection, communication, battery life). We discuss these factors in the context of two different example skin interfaces: a rigid board embedded into special effects makeup and skin-mounted soft materials connected to devices.
This ground-breaking book aims to take a new and innovative view on how disability and architecture might be connected. Rather than putting disability at the end of the design process, centred mainly on compliance, it sees disability-and ability-as creative starting points for the whole design process. It asks the intriguing question: Can working from dis/ability actually generate an alternative kind of architectural avant-garde? To do this, Doing Disability Differently: • explores how thinking about dis/ability opens up to critical and creative investigation our everyday social attitudes and practices about people, objects and space • argues that design can help resist and transform underlying and unnoticed inequalities • introduces architects to the emerging and important field of disability studies and considers what different kinds of design thinking and doing this can enable • asks how designing for everyday life-in all its diversity-can be better embedded within contemporary architecture as a discipline • offers examples of what doing disability differently can mean for architectural theory, education and professional practice • aims to embed into architectural practice, attitudes and approaches that creatively and constructively refuse to perpetuate body 'norms' or the resulting inequalities in access to, and support from, built space. Ultimately, this book suggests that re-addressing architecture and disability involves nothing less than re-thinking how to design for the everyday occupation of space more generally.
We present “Lightwear”, a series of garment-based, lightweight, light-emitting wearables designed to administer light therapy for on-the-go treatment of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Bright Light Therapy (BLT) has been used to treat SAD for more than 25 years. While light boxes continue to serve as the predominant method of treatment, it often requires a user to sit at a dedicated location for a sustained period of time (30-60 minutes), rendering therapy inconvenient and resulting in unsatisfactory compliance rates. To date, there have been few successful products developed for wearability and portability to ease the uncomfortable nature of light box treatment. However, new low-profile, light-emitting sources yield opportunities for less cumbersome textile integration and wearability. We explore the integration of light into textile substrates that focus on fashion-forward wearables which can,
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