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Investigating input technologies for children and young adults with Down syndrome

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Abstract

Using computers as an assistive technology for people with various types of physical and perceptual disabilities has been studied extensively. However, research on computer technology used by individuals with Down syndrome is limited. This paper reports an empirical study that investigated the use of three input techniques (keyboard and mouse, word prediction, and speech recognition) by children and young adults with Down syndrome and neurotypical children. The results suggest that the performance of the Down syndrome participants vary substantially. The high performing Down syndrome participants are capable of using the keyboard or the word prediction software to generate text at approximately 6 words per minute with error rates below 5%, which is similar to the performance of the younger neurotypical participants. No significant difference was observed between the keyboard condition and the word prediction condition. Recognition error rate observed under the speech input condition is very high for the Down syndrome participants. The neurotypical children achieved better performance than the participants with Down syndrome on the input tasks and demonstrated different preferences when interacting with the input techniques. Limitations of this study and implications for future research are also discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the General Endowment Fund of the Fisher College of Science and Mathematics at Towson University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer and Information Sciences Department, Towson University, 8000 York Road, Towson, MD, 21252, USA

    Ruimin Hu, Jinjuan Feng & Jonathan Lazar

  2. Department of Speech Pathology, Loyola University, 4501 N Charles St, Baltimore, MD, 21210, USA

    Libby Kumin

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  1. Ruimin Hu
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  2. Jinjuan Feng
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  3. Jonathan Lazar
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  4. Libby Kumin
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Correspondence to Jinjuan Feng.

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Hu, R., Feng, J., Lazar, J. et al. Investigating input technologies for children and young adults with Down syndrome. Univ Access Inf Soc 12, 89–104 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-011-0267-3

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