Analyzing Learnability of Common Mobile Gestures used by Down Syndrome Users

Abstract

The objective of this research was to analyze the learnability of the 8 most common mobile gestures used by first-timers Down Syndrome (DS) users. The study was performed by testing mobile gestures usage by 10 DS teenagers that had never interacted with a mobile/gestural interface. They developed 18 tasks over a tablet computer. Results were measured by the Task Performance Learnability Metric which focuses in factors such as success, optimality, and error decreasing. Although gestural interaction was thought to be intuitive by design, DS users face limitations in fine-motor and visual skills, so as in eye-hand coordination, which difficult manipulation of particular mobile gestures. This vein, findings of this research helped to determine the most adequate interactions for mobile gestural interfaces used by DS users.