Accessibility as Apparatus: How the Friction Filled Experience of Using Hearing Aids with a PC Led a Corporation to Design for Accessibility

This paper explores the complex, kluged, multi-device systems that hard of hearing (HoH) users must grapple with when trying to connect their hearing aids to their PCs. We argue that these systems can be modeled as a physical apparatus, a Rube Goldberg machine, made up of many forces causing drag or friction in the interaction between assistive devices, people with disabilities, and computers. Our fieldwork covers three related research studies and a total of 22 in-depth remote interviews plus contextual sensory media data collected through Dscout, an end-to-end mobile ethnography platform, with hearing aid users. We provide examples of environmental limitations and technical difficulties of multi-device pairing and switching, along with personal details of life, work, recreation, and socializing that dictate particular use cases. We also discuss the interpersonal, environmental, and technical factors that had to align at an organizational level in order for this research to occur, before finishing with the significant organizational outcomes of these studies.