D1: Tools for Usability and Accessibility Analysis

Background

Motivation:

• Needed for various RERC activities: R2, D2, R3, D3
• The team developed an innovative tool, the MU-Lab, for usability and accessibility analysis that integrates our collective expertise in ergonomics, usability engineering, universal design and biomechanics methods. It was designed to be mobile, web-based, and facilitate multi-site data collection and analysis.

Aim:

To develop and evaluate field tools for assessing medical instrumentation use by subject populations including individuals with a diverse range of disabilities, culminating in a deliverable product that was developed and evaluated during Year 2 of the RERC-AMI. This development project concluded early in Year 3 (2005).

Specifications for Mobile Usability Lab (MU-Lab):

• Mobile, modular, wireless
• Integrated commercial products:
  • laptop with data interface board
  • wireless digital cameras (up to 4) with various tripods, and wireless/ environmental microphones
  • digital video codecs, time-stamped voice overlays
  • advanced video editing hardware and software that builds on Adobe Premiere
• Ergonomics software for video and audio data collection and analysis, with integrated capabilities for event sensors
• Web-based Protocol Manager of MU-Lab helps guide a multi-site team through the accessibility and usability process

Process:

• A prototype system was developed at by a joint team from both the Medical Device Accessibillity & Usabillity Lab at Marquette University and the University of California Ergonomics Lab. This process involved development of design specifications and subsequent implementation of prototype tools. Through an iterative process, a working MU-Lab system was developed and used at both sites. Both systems were sucessfully demonstrated at the March 2004 meeting of the Advisory Council in Alameda CA, with refinements and improvements continuing through the spring-summer of 2004.
• The MU-Lab prototype has been used in 6 IRB-approved human subjects studies, including several that target using the tool for evaluating a variety of medical devices being used by individuals with a diversity of functional impairments and abilities.