Switching on my ears

by Shane Morris, at UX New Zealand.

Designing a hand-held device presents a number of challenges. Designing that device for use by folks with impaired physical abilities introduces another layer of complexity. Ensuring that the experience is appropriate for an audience from five year-old kids to ninety five year-old retirees controlling one of their senses is just downright difficult. Shane recently worked with Australian innovator and international success story Cochlear to design device to help bionic ear implant recipients monitor and control their hearing. The design represented an evolution to a simpler more usable device.

Transcript

1. Switching on my ears:
   Designing a hand held device for
   bionic implant recipients
   Shane Morris, Automatic Studio
   Matt Morphett, Amberdew Interaction Design
   

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2. Graham Clarke
   

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3. The cochlear ear implant is
   the first and only device
   produced by mankind
   which effectively restores
   the use of one of the
   human senses.
   Professor Gustav Nossal,
   University of Melbourne
   

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4. Cochlear Implant System
   Cochlear Implant Sound Processor
   

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5. Where does the software fit?
   5
   

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6. A Lifetime Journey.... Lifetime Needs
   Service and
   Repair
   Service and
   Repair
   Upgrades
   Upgrades
   Troubleshooting
   Troubleshooting
   Habilitation
   Habilitation
   Programming the
   implant
   Programming the
   implant
   6
   

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7. The Challenge
   <10%
   7
   

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8. Scalability
   Cochlear
   ™
   Nucleus
   ®
   5 System
   Nucleus CP810
   sound processor
   Nucleus CR110
   remote assistant
   Custom Sound™
   Suite 3.0
   Nucleus CI512
   cochlear implant
   8
   

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9. KEY CONSIDERATIONS
   

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10. New Users
    Users who are not users today
    10
    

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11. User Context
    13
    

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12. Medical Device
    15
    

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13. Long Development Cycles
    16
    

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14. Enter UX
    

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15. Usability Testing - Informal
    19
    

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16. Usability Testing - Formal
    20
    

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17. Our Journey
    Nucleus Fitting Software
    Remote Assistant Fitting
    21
    

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18. Our Journey
    Nucleus Fitting Software
    CR230 Remote Assistant
    Remote Assistant Fitting
    22
    

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19. The Business Requirement
    Existing Requirements
    • Suit wide range of users / hearing configurations
    • Cater for many more features than there are
    buttons
    • Be smaller than a mobile
    • More useful than a credit card sized remote
    New Requirements
    • Demonstrably (testably) Better Than Existing UI
    • Minimise Change Management
    • Maintain Backwards Compatibility
    • Establish Extensible Platform – Start With
    Scalability Suite
    ?
    ?
    23
    

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20. Deliberately Unstructured Research
    Recipient Appointments With Audiologists
    Sat in on Clinical Trials With CI Recipients
    • Cochlear Implant Forums & Blogs
    • Followed Twitter Accounts for the Deaf Community
    • Downloaded iPhone Rehabilitation Apps
    • Wore the Cochlear Test Rig Around for a Day
    • Spoke to the Support-Line Manager
    • Looked Outside the Industry
    • Undertook Usability Testing
    • Taught Preschoolers About Cochlear Implants.
    24
    

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21. Who Are Our Users?
    Secondary Personas
    • Parents
    • Carers
    Primary Personas
    Elderly
    Adult
    Young Person
    Tertiary Personas
    • Clinicians
    Timid Adventurous
    25
    MM1
    

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22. Slide 25
    MM1 Could Possibly lose this slide
    Matt Morphett, 9/01/2012
    

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23. What Do Users Need To Do?
    Adjust their hearing
    • Select a Program
    • Change Volume
    • Telecoil
    Check that everything is OK
    • Battery levels
    • Sound coming in
    • Identify / Troubleshoot Issues
    Establish their own hearing configuration
    ... + Dozens of other things
    26
    MM2
    

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24. Slide 26
    MM2 Could lose this slide or do it in 5 secs
    Matt Morphett, 9/01/2012
    

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25. Good Design…
    …Reflects Behavior
    Daily Tasks
    Daily Tasks Occasional
    Tasks
    Occasional
    Tasks
    Rare Tasks
    Rare Tasks
    Home
    Home
    Volume Sensitivity Detailed
    Hearing
    Adjustments
    Settings
    Home
    /Environmnt
    s
    Check
    Status
    Setting Setting Setting Setting Setting Setting Setting Setting
    Adjustments Adjustments Adjustments Adjustments Adj. Adj. Adj.
    Adj.
    Adj.
    Adj. Adj.
    Adj. Adj.
    Adj.
    Adj.
    30
    

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26. Volume Sensitivity Detailed
    Hearing
    Adjustments
    Settings
    Home
    /Environmnt
    s
    Check
    Status
    Setting Setting Setting Setting Setting Setting Setting Setting
    Adjustments Adjustments Adjustments Adjustments Adj. Adj. Adj.
    Adj.
    Adj.
    Adj. Adj.
    Adj. Adj.
    Adj.
    Adj.
    Good Design…
    …Informs Behavior
    Sensitivity
    31
    MM4
    

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27. Slide 31
    MM4 Card sorting point. Not capturing, forming a mental model.
    Matt Morphett, 9/01/2012
    

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28. Pattern Matching…
    Causing Problems
    Suggesting Solutions
    Setting Setting Setting Setting Setting Setting Setting Setting
    Volume Sensitivity Detailed
    Hearing
    Adjustments
    Settings
    Home
    /Environmnt
    s
    Check
    Status
    Setting Setting Setting Setting Setting Setting Setting
    Adjustment Adjustment Adjustment Adjustment Adj. Adj. Adj.
    Adj.
    Adj.
    Adj. Adj.
    32
    MM7
    

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29. Slide 32
    MM7 Possibly lose this half
    Matt Morphett, 9/01/2012
    

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30. Introducing…
    Turn the sound off Shane.
    33
    

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31. Our Journey
    Nucleus Fitting Software
    CR220 Remote Assistant
    Support material
    Cultural research
    Packaging concepts
    Tested manuals etc
    Remote Assistant Fitting
    34
    

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32. Our Journey
    Nucleus Fitting Software
    CR220 Remote Assistant
    Skills transfer
    Support material
    Cultural research
    Packaging concepts
    Tested manuals etc
    Remote Assistant Fitting
    35
    

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33. Skills Transfer
    36
    

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34. Training Audiologists as Testers
    How
    1. Wrote 1st Protocol & Materials
    2. Conducted 1st Round Testing
    3. Bought Steve Krug’s Book
    4. Observed 2nd Round Testing
    5. Mentored
    6. Left them to rounds 3, 4 and 5
    7. Were very responsive to results
    Benefits
    • SMEs Become UX Evangelists
    • Impartial Validation
    • …yet still tight, respectful relationship
    37
    

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35. Reflection
    • Much of our experience and techniques from screen-based
    design translated well to devices
    But device design, and medical device design, is different
    • Prototype, prototype, prototype
    – To scale
    • Enlist client staff as testers
    • Accept unreasonable constraints, demonstrate value, then
    loosen constraints over time
    • Don’t take on a medical device project because you think it will
    be good for your portfolio
    38
    

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36. Matt Morphett
    matt@amberdew.com.au
    twitter: @mattmorphett
    Shane Morris
    shane@automaticstudio.com.au
    twitter: @shanemo
    Credits
    Jane Cockburn
    Toby Cumming
    Nyung Nguyen
    Rami Banna
    Yas Nakano
    Alex Knight
    Jack Hsu
    Thanks
    Thanks
    

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