Expressa

Real-time feedback for a fast-paced world

The Problem

While this may not be widely recognized, 1 in every 68 people are somewhere on the autistic spectrum. As college students, our team was very curious to see what this number looked like in a college setting, and were shocked to find out that of all the autistic students that attend college, only 39% are able to graduate. From high school to college, there is a huge spike in the level of independence students experience, and the number of interactions we have with new people in different academic situations rises as well. These are big enough changes for socially adept students, so for someone with autism, these differences could really hinder confidence and performance.

Controlling Speech (Volume and Speed)

Our design aids the user in speaking at a volume that suits their current situation, and keeps from speaking too slow or fast.

Controlling Stress Levels

The application monitors stress levels via sensors on the Apple Watch to help the user stay aware and gain control when things begin to get out of hand.

Track Progress

The user can look back at trends over time to track improvement. This function is held within another area of the design to remain unobtrusive.

Interactive Prototype

Our primary design features the Apple Watch, but we have also included a prototype for the concurrent iPhone app, which handles the less immediate functionality.

Initial Testing

We focused our research on gathering information about whether the problems and solutions we have devised are feasible for the group we are planning to target, and gaining insights about what has been done in the past that we can build on. We found that honing in on communication issues surrounding college students with Autism is indeed a good area to look into, as it combines a prevalent issue with a group that gets less attention from researchers. We were also given advice about targeting academic group work as a target segment, and focusing efforts on subtly communicating analysis to both the subject and other.

Sketch

This design would be an app for the Apple Watch which monitors the user’s heart rate and other biometrics, as well as listens to and analyzes speech. The app would monitor the user’s stress level via their heart rate from the watch’s sensors. When stress rises above a certain threshold, the app would alert the user that they are feeling stressed, thus allowing them to adapt to the situation. The app would also listen as the user talks and monitor the volume of their speech. If the volume rises above a certain level, the app would prompt the user to talk more quietly. Similarly, if the volume drops below a certain level, the app would prompt the user to talk more loudly. In addition, the app would listen as the user talks and monitor the speed of their speech. If the user is talking too fast or too slow, the app would suggest that the user slow down or speed up, respectively. Finally, the app would also listen as the user converses with someone and would use natural language processing to analyze the words spoken by whomever the user is speaking with and interpret the emotion behind the word choice.

Storyboard

Greg is giving a presentation in which he needs to speak clearly, which includes talking at an appropriate speed. Without realizing it, he starts talking very quickly due to nervousness. Greg’s audience notices that he is talking too fast and they are having a hard time understanding him. The watch app, monitoring the speed of Greg’s speech, alerts him that he is talking faster than he should be by discreetly buzzing and showing a notification that he should slow down his speech a bit. Armed with this knowledge, Greg slows down the rate at which he is speaking to a more appropriate, easy-to-follow speed. His audience appreciates this, and Greg’s presentation is a success.

Paper Prototype

Throughout the testing process, we revised a few aspects of our prototype in response to feedback. The first major revision was to add back/home buttons to most of our screens which were initially lacking these navigational tools. Most of these were caught during heuristic evaluation, though the track progress screen back buttons were added after the first usability test. We also made revisions to some of the icons on the home screen. After being told the wave icon for speech speed was confusing, we changed it to a snail. Similarly, the heart icon symbolizing heart rate as a proxy for stress level was revised to include a line through the heart resembling rate to make it more recognizable.

Usability Testing

Throughout the testing process, we revised a few aspects of our prototype in response to feedback. The first major revision was to add back/home buttons to most of our screens which were initially lacking these navigational tools. Most of these were caught during heuristic evaluation, though the track progress screen back buttons were added after the first usability test. We also made revisions to some of the icons on the home screen. After being told the wave icon for speech speed was confusing, we changed it to a snail. Similarly, the heart icon symbolizing heart rate as a proxy for stress level was revised to include a line through the heart resembling rate to make it more recognizable.

Digital Prototype

The most significant change we made from the paper prototype was moving the Settings and Track Progress screens to a companion iPhone app, rather than stuffing everything into the Apple Watch application. During our research, we learned that most, if not all, watch apps have a paired iPhone app. We also received feedback that these settings functions would be distracting on the user’s wrist, and might serve them better in a separate place for use as needed.
Additionally, we removed the email option, as our research informed us that it was both unnecessary, and slightly invasive for the users. It sends the wrong message that this application is intended for gathering and sharing feedback for future improvement, whereas the main purpose has always been giving live feedback in order to facilitate immediate improvement in a social situation.

The Team

Andrew Zunt

User researcher, Writer, Designer
Computer Science

Bryce Martz

User researcher, Writer, Designer
Computer Science

Hans Jorgensen

Storyboarding Developer, Designer, Writer
Computer Science

Naveena Sathiyamoorthy

Storyboard Developer, Designer, Writer
Computer Science