improving the web browsing environment for dyslexics by elaborating functionalities

©2008 IBM Corporation

Improving the Web Browsing Environment for Dyslexics by Elaborating Functionalities

2009-03-20Reiko Nagatsuma, Shinji Iizuka, Masakazu Takizawa, Takuya Ohko, Takuji Wada, Takashi SaitoIBM Accessibility Center, Tokyo Research Laboratory, Japan

©2009 IBM Corporation2

Agenda Motivation

- Present status of the studies for people with Learning Disabilities (LDs) *

- IBM Easy Web BrowsingTM (EWB) as a baseline tool Improvement of “EWB for LDs”

Pilot study- Detail of the study- Results of the interviews

Conclusion

Q&A*As you know, the meaning of LD include not only dyslexia disabilities but math, nonverbal LD and so on.Our team will deal with the problems of LD in the future, though now we treat only the problem of dyslexia.

IBM, Easy Web Browsing are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.


Motivation and Aims

Motivation Background

IBM Accessibility center is concerned with PwD.- research and develop products for easy access to Information Technology (IT).

LD: Difficulties in information processing => A potential area where IT could be used

Highly affected populationLD users have many difficulties in various cognitive areas

Governmental policy for developmental disorders in Japan Recent progress in brain science

Current Status Little research into the efficacy or sufficiency of existing IT

Challenge Identify the potentials of assistive technology (AT) Find out which AT is valuable for them Find out the hidden needs for LDs thorough their opinions

=> How about enhancements to our existing software for LD users?


Easy Web Browsing – a baseline tool

What is Easy Web BrowsingTM (EWB)?

An assistive technology which provides user-friendly operations and accessibility features that enable a variety of end-users to easily access websites.

There are various barriers.

Difficult to read small font 　

Difficult to read bad color combinations

Difficult to read long articles

Read aloud at the location pointed at with the mouse

Customize the background and text colors

Enlarge the indicated text

Target Users: senior, Novice IT users, users who have limited vision …


Extensions for LDs

How to extend EWB for LD users?

*2) special functions for the Japanese language*1) Sally E. Shaywitz, Reading Disorders, Nikkei Science, Feb.1997.

Potential functions for LDs

Ruler

Highlight / Masking

Reading out

Magnify

Word separation (*2)

Color changing

Text to Image

Animation Suppressing

Ruby for Kanji (*2)

Line / Word / Letter spacing

Dictionary / Search

Font-style changing

Colored overlay

Visual System

Phoneme System

Word Recognition System

Semantic System- general knowledge- illation- concept formation- vocabulary

Sentence Comprehension Process (*1)

[kuh aoh tuh]

cat

a furry animal that has a long tail and sharp claws.

c a t

contents

EWB1.3

EWB2.0

EWBLD

Enhance

Enhance

Enhance

Enhance

Enhance

Enhance

New

New

New

New

New


Pilot study

Pilot study for LD users

Aims To learn what functions are valid

To verify the efficacy of this approach

Assistive Technology

Enhanced EWB for LDs.

Enhancements depend on the reading model and the opinions of the LD users.

Participants 1st test: 10 people, 2nd test: 9 people (mostly same users)

The study participants were all adults and all Japanese.

(Using page is written in Japanese.)

Most have LDs, and some have also ADHD.

Cooperators NPO EDGE (Prominent Japanese organization supporting people with LDs)

Schedule Aug. 2008 to Dec. 2008


Evaluators of the pilot study

Summary of the participants

They also have writing problems like confused p and q, or “time” and tiem and so on.

Reading and writing problems self-assessed. Average age: 37.

ID 1st 2nd Sex Age Reading Problems

A Y Y M 20s Unfocused / Cause irritation

B Y Y M 30s Repeating same line / Weak comprehension

C Y Y M 30s Blurring / Cause irritation

D Y Y M 20s Blurring / Windy sentences

E Y Y F 50s Collapsed

F Y Y M 50s Overlapping words / Cause irritation

G Y Y F 30s See double / Flow of words whirl about

H Y N M 30s Weak comprehension of words read

I Y Y M 50s Windy sentences / Overlapping words

J Y Y F 20s Slow oral reading / Cause irritation


Pilot study - Result

What functions are most needed ?

Their needs vary widely and they need a more flexible interface.

(*1) Ranking score = [number of top 1] x 8 + [number of top 2] x 4 + [number of top 3] x 2 Each participants were asked to select top 3 functions which they wanted most.

　

Rank Function

Do you need it ?

[# of persons] Weighted Scores

1st (*1)

Weighted Scores

2nd (*1)Yes Occasionally No

1 Read out Loud 5 3 1 38 34

2 Colored Overlay 3 5 1 - 28

3 Line Height 5 4 0 20 24

4 Ruler 3 5 1 28 10

5 Highlight / Masking 3 2 4 16 4

6 Furigana(Ruby) 3 3 3 14 2

7 Word Separation 2 4 3 12 2

8 Color Changes 2 5 2 4 0

9 Page Map 1 5 3 2 4

10 Image zoom 0 2 7 2 0


1: Read Out Loud Function

Summary of the participants’ comment

By far the most needed

When chosen, this function is almost always selected

as the “Best” function.

Two main comments for reading out loud - To understand content with a voice because of

difficulty in reading characters - To compare the characters on the PC with a voice

sound (to learn the words)

They have additional requirements. One strong opinion is….

ID Do you need it?

A Occasionally

B Yes

C Yes

D Occasionally

E No

F Yes

G Yes

H Occasionally

I Yes

J Yes

1 Read Out Loud2 Colored Overlay3 Line Height


A candidate of effective display method - KARAOKE

There was a small school near the river.

Summary of the participants’ comments

Karaoke-like indicator is liked by most users

Two main comments on karaoke feature: - Makes it easier to follow the characters with their

eyes (similar to tracing a line with their fingers) - Easier to understand the meaning of the

sentences. (Easier to combine the words and corresponding sounds.)

ID Display method

A Karaoke

B Karaoke

C Karaoke

D Karaoke

E No need to read aloud

F (Other)

G Karaoke

I Karaoke

J Karaoke

1 Read Out Loud2 Colored Overlay3 Line Height


2: Colored Overlay The Stardust spacecraft ison a mission to collectinterstellar dust and samples from comets.


One of the most preferred functions

It was significantly more effective than

interviewees expectations

Two main comments are: 1) Stabilizes how the characters look – irritation

decreased with lower contrast 2) Makes words clearer - characters are crisper and sharper and seem to float

*Participants A&C choose 2 colors:1 - Japanese2 – English

ID Do you need it? color

A Yes 1:yellow

2:light blue

B No

C Occasionally 1:red

2:light blue

D Yes yellow

E Occasionally yellow

F Yes yellow

G Yes yellow

I Yes yellow

J Occasionally yellow

1 Read Out Loud

2 Colored Overlay3 Line Height


3: Line Height


Easier to follow the sentences with their eyes

Reduces confusion with neighboring lines

Easier to grasp the shapes of words

Easier to see stable word shapes

•We did not enhance this parameter, but are just reporting selected comments.

Launche

d i n 1999 ,t he St a r dus t

ID Do you need it? Ratio

A Occasionally 200%

B Yes 400%

C Yes 300%

D Occasionally 170%

E Yes 300%

F Yes 170%

G Yes 500%*

G Yes 170%

H Occasionally -

spacec r a f t is on a mi ss on to co l lec t

i nte r s tel lar dus t and samp les f ro m come ts

1 Read Out Loud2 Colored Overlay

3 Line Height


corresponding functions

read out loud

Does the reading out loud function

substitute for phonetic processing?

The reading out loud function seems to

have a positive influence on visual

processing and word recognition.

Visible?

Meaning?

Visual System

Phoneme System


Semantic System- general knowledge- reasoning- concept formation- vocabulary


*1) Sally E. Shaywitz, Reading Disorders, Nikkei Science, Feb.1997.

[kuh aoh tuh]

cat

a furry animal that has a long tail and sharp claws.

c a t

contents eye

Adaptation of adequate model for our assistive functions. (1) Phoneme System

Considerations - 1


Adaptation of adequate model for our assistive functions. (2) Visual system

Considerations - 2

corresponding functions

Colored Overlay

Irlen Syndrome?

Line height

Visual System

Phoneme System


Semantic System- general knowledge- illation- concept formation- vocabulary


*1) Refer to : Sally E. Shaywitz, Reading Disorder ,NIKKEI SCIENCE , Feb.1997.

[kuh aoh tuh]

cata furry animal that has a long tail and sharp claws.

c a t

contents eye


Demonstration


Assessment of efficacy

1: Purpose: To study the efficacy of ATs.2: Metrics: Reading speed and fluency.3: Functions: ATs they selected.

ID Reading speed Improve-ments

Variation (seconds)

ATs

C 7% 2.7 Colored overlay

D 21% 7.7 Ruler

F 3% 1.0 Colored overlay

G 20% 8.7 Magnify & Ruby

J 11% 8.2 Colored overlay

without AT(s)

with AT(s)

38.8

36.1

36.829.1

37.3

36.3

43.3

34.671.3

63.1


Conclusion

Conclusion

We improved some of the functions in IBM Easy Web Browsing

(EWB), which was developed for people with limited vision and senior

citizens, to help LD users.

We evaluated the efficacy of the functions.

Our conclusions:

- ATs are certainly helpful, though their needs vary widely.

- The top 3 functions were:

1: Reading out loud, 2: Colored overlays (yellow), and 3: Line

height

- Their reading speed was better with the ATs

The users wanted more flexible customizations and combinations of the ATs.


Conclusion

To next stage…

Why are certain ATs effective? How are brains working?

⁃ The functions still need improvements.

⁃ We want a highly customizable UI programming framework.

⁃ User modeling would support fast and easy individual adaptations.


The Most Impressive Comment

The ease of access level for Web browsing is

directly connected to the quality of life.

Therefore this factor influences one's thinking of

whether to become pessimistic or optimistic for

the inevitable stage of aging.

Mail from 6 Sep. 2008


Q & A


Thank You Very Much!

contact: [email protected]

20, Mar, 15:30- 17:00, demonstration of EWB for LD at #270


Other functions

ruler Underline. It helps to follow the line with their eyes.

Magnifi-cation

Line space is wider with magnification, but the recognition of the characters becomes difficult.

Furigana (JapaneseOnly)

Furigana will help to read however improvements are needed for allocation and coloration.

Word separating(JapaneseOnly)

Word separating allows easy word recognition by separating Japanese characters.

Colour Change

Colour change has the same effect as coloured overlay

ふじさん

富士山富士山

岸に小さな学校がありました。

岸に小さな　学校が　ありました

There was a little school near the riverThere was a little school near the river

Since discovering her own daughter's

struggle with reading and Irlen Syndrome

Since discovering her own daughter's

struggle with reading and Irlen Syndrome

Since discovering her own

daughter's struggle with reading

and Irlen Syndrome


Evaluators of the pilot study

Corresponding table between reading problems and AT

IDReading Problems Read Out

LoudKARA

-OKE

Colored Overlay

Line Height

A Unfocused / Cause irritation Occasionally Yes Yes Occasionally

BRepeating same line /

Weak comprehensionYes Yes No Yes

C Blurring / Cause irritation Yes Yes Occasionally Yes

D Blurring / Windy sentences Occasionally Yes Yes Occasionally

E Collapsed characters No No Occasionally Yes

FOverlapping words

Cause irritationYes Yes Yes Yes

GSee double

Flow of words whirl aboutYes Yes Yes Yes

H Weak comprehension Occasionally - - -

IWindy sentences / Overlapping words

Yes Yes Yes Yes

JSlow oral reading

Cause irritationYes Occasionally Occasionally Occasionally


1: Purpose: To study the efficacy of ATs.2: Metrics: Reading speed and fluency.3: Functions: ATs they selected.

ID Reading speed Improve-ments

Variation (seconds)

ATs

A 25% 14.2 Colored overlay

B 24% 21.0 Line Height

E 19% 6.5 Line Height

without AT(s)

with AT(s)

56.4

42.2

86.065.0

34.6

28.1


Assessment of efficacy

Assessment pages

improving the web browsing environment for dyslexics by elaborating functionalities

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