Abstract
Objectives:
Based on the field work regarding difficulties the deaf faced during the earthquakes in Japan, we designed a visual information delivery system using Android mobile devices and cloud networking during a major disaster to communicate information about the evacuation and the shelter to them quickly. We present the results of the evaluation test of this system.
Methods:
Evaluation tests were carried out at a school for the deaf. Subjects were 28 people with hearing impairment (HI) and 26 with normal hearing (NH), aged 12 to 65 and 24 females and 30 males. Visual information delivery system consisted of Android mobile devices with Wi-Fi, cloud networking system, and LED display. Evaluation items were 1) recognition of LED display, 2) usefulness of the system, 3) size of the characters on LED, 4) color of the characters on LED, and 5) speed of the character scroll on LED. Results were statistically analyzed.
Results:
The LED display was recognized by 65% in the HI group and 53% in the NH group. Usefulness was highly evaluated by 80% in HI and 72% in NH. Larger sized characters were evaluated by 30% in HI and 56% in NH. Green color was evaluated more in HI and red color more in NH. Faster scroll was evaluated more in HI (p<0.05).
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that this system was useful for the deaf, and they preferred green characters on faster scroll on LED.
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