Developing interactive interfaces for people with developmental disabilities to be used in Snoezelen environments

Authors

Pamela Svensson and Charlotta Viklund

Session

F4. Interfaces and innovative UX

Date and Time

2014-06-18, 13:30 - 13:50

Room

MA 6
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Abstract

This paper presents the design and development of an interactive interface for users of Snoezelen environments. The goal with this project is to interact the users to explore their own senses by their own, and in some way, make them realize that they’ll get a response by the environment from their actions. By interacting with the interface, the user will get a response through the sight, hearing and touch. The main attraction is the element of surprise when the user, when approaching the interface, suddenly feels a strong gust of wind. To attract the user to the element of surprise, the interface needs something to invite the user to explore. To make this possible, it is important to implement the interface’s response in an attractive way. In this case, most of the users got an impaired vision, so they will respond more to sound than light, and this was the toughest part since sound aesthetics are different for each individual. Some of the users have poorer vision than others, so light response had to be as bright and intense as possible.