The appearance of the electrical appliances has undergone a dramatic change in many aspects since the 1920&rsquo / s. Throughout years, along with their changed appearance, the way the appliances are perceived has altered. The interface of domestic products is mainly dominated by visual elements. Undoubtedly, the domination of the visual perception in the
interfaces of the appliances might cause complications in the interaction between the product and visually impaired users.
In this thesis, the interaction between the electrical household appliances and visually impaired user is examined to identify the strong points in the interaction as well as any
complications that may occur during the interaction. Observations were conducted with ten users to explore the interaction between the visually impaired users and three electrical domestic appliances: washing machine, vacuum cleaner and iron.
The findings of the observations indicate that visually impaired users can operate their appliances, with some limitations. Yet a number of common problematic points related to the interface elements, which hinder from using their electrical appliances with full functionality, were encountered. At the end of the study, a list of design recommendations, some of which offered in the literature previously, are suggested.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12608492/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 December 2006 |
| Creators | Ozkan, Tulay |
| Contributors | Toksoz, Refik |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | M.S. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for public access |
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