Silent Narratives
Pop-Up Exhibition

Project

Create immersive storytelling experiences for adolescents and young adults with hard of hearing by leveraging emerging technologies, and inclusive principles.

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Role & Contributions

Collaborating for a group project in a five member team, I performed as the main researcher and co-designer focusing on the prototyping.

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Process

Timeline: February 2023 - May 2023 (14 weeks)

‍Tools: Miro, Sketchup, Adobe Illustrator, Procreate

‍Subject: Design Practice and Management course at the University of Sydney
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Problem & Objective

According to Hearing Australia (2022), approximately 3.6 million (1 in 3) Australians have hearing loss ranging in severity and is expected to double by 2060. Despite current intervention often relying on subtitles and transcripts for assistance, their availability and accuracy varies among platforms, affecting people's ability to discover, consume and engage with ABC's storytelling, product, and services. Consequently, an immersive pop-up exhibition titled 'Silent Narratives' addresses the unique challenges faced by hearing-impaired teenagers and young adults when accessing and enjoying digital content.

What is the current landscape at ABC?

Through our background research, we found that among the 7 applications offered by ABC, each one provides at least one service related to audio, video, or podcasts. Channels featuring audio content provide a brief summary but lack transcripts, while those focused on radio and podcasts do not offer transcripts either.

When viewed on television, TV signals and Closed Caption signals are simultaneously broadcasted, but reception issues resulting in distorted subtitles or missing words and sentences is a common occurrence. On devices such as phones and laptops, the content is optimised for assistive technologies like screen readers, magnifiers, navigation switches, and speech recognition software. However, users may need to install plug-in units or other live caption applications, limiting acessibility to synchronised subtitles.

Discovering user needs.

We conducted 4 interviews with individuals experiencing varied severity of hearing loss to gain better understanding into the challenges, needs, and painpoints faced by the hard-of-hearing community. Surveys enabled us to analyse the types of digital storytelling content that resonate with people, as well as the obstacles they encounter.

The current market space.

Alongside researching current technological trends and a competitor analysis to analyse the existing market solutions, we were able to narrow our problem scope and define the user needs.

Many current products designed to assist individuals with hard of hearing come with high cost. Considering this, the inclusion of alternative senses like tactile and visual stimuli to enhance sensory processing during interactions with digital storytelling content is integral for improving their immersive experience. The absence of accurate and dependable subtitles when consuming movies and video entertainment poses as a key pain point. Users are also seeking cost-effective and readily accessible products or services. Additionally, due to stigma, there is a demand for better awareness, comprehension, and empathy regarding the challenges faced by the hard-of-hearing community, aiming to enhance the inclusivity features of digital storytelling.

"How might we create an immersive storytelling experience to help individuals without hearing loss develop deeper empathy and understanding of the challenges faced by hard-of-hearing individuals?"
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"How might we leverage emerging technology and innovative design to craft immersive and inclusive storytelling experiences tailored for adolescents and young adults with hearing impairment to actively engage with?"

Design Development

To kick off our ideation process, we employed brainstorming and concept mapping methodologies to generate ideas aligned with our identified user needs and problem space. We opted for sketches and journey maps to effectively convey our three chosen concepts within the team and refine the progression of ideas.

Smart Glasses: an accessory for the user with subtitles and a sign language visualised in the glasses.

Haptic Device: an extension for the ABC app, featuring customisable haptic feedback tailored to individual preferences to enhance the storytelling experience.

Pop-Up Exhibition Space: an engaging sensory-enhanced experience of silent storytelling.

Concept Evaluation.

Key Insights

We found that inclusive design takes the product or service one step further, making the system more versatile, ensuring its effectiveness for everyone. It examines the broad ways in which users engage and interact with the product or service, including intersectionality. By adhering to the principles of inclusive design, our solution aims to prevent diminish users from feeling excluded in society.
ABC's storytelling channels, particularly ABC iView, a government-funded enterprise, face challenges in providing accessible subtitles and audio descriptions across all platforms due to funding constraints. Therefore, our approach must carefully consider viability and practicality for successful implementation.

Feedback

Haptic vibration is a development of an existing product that can be a helpful feature on the phone, but has limitations in terms of digital inclusive design.
The idea of a sensory space and room as a pop-up exhibition space can assist individuals with hearing impairment including those without to better empathise with the challenges present.
A capital expense barrier of smart glasses since it requires individuals with hearing impairment to purchase and invest in another product, posing a financial burden. It is also necessary to do continuous product testing to make improved changes.

Accessibility vs. Inclusive Design

An interview with an ABC representative (Gerry Neustatl - Inclusive Design Lead of ABC) offered valuable insights and understanding into the customer pain points. It guided our initial focus from accessibility design to inclusive design. We also received constructive feedback on preferences and areas for improvement regarding our three core ideations. This proved instrumental in pinning down to our final design within our time constraints.

How did we evaluate our 3 key concepts?

During our concept evaluation, our group conducted a group discussion considering the innovation sweet spot based on desirability, viability, and feasibility of each idea. We then prioritised them with the MoSCoW method with groups of must have, should have, could have, and won't have. In consequence to that and consideration with our interview with ABC representative, we narrowed down into two ideas. In order to refine and communicate our concept for user testing, we utilised a paper prototype for our haptic concept and storyboard for the pop-up exhibition. With the limited time available for the project, we did a simple user prioritisation by voting for the ideas they prefer.

Features and Objectives of 'Silent Narratives' Pop-Up Exhibition.

Using 3D modelling to create the exhibition venue open to all audiences, it will be divided into eight sections based on the movie Titanic as an example. Visual representation is established through extensive projectors and light projections. In order to enhance the immersive experience, we incorporated elements from 4D cinema, such as water spray, dry ice effects, and scent machines. The inspiration of the venue shape stems from bluetooth headphones and play button, symbolising the concept of 'listening' to stories through our eyes.

Consequently, the pain points addressed led to...
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Inclusion of Alternative Sensory Cues: Utilise vibrations, subtitles, dynamic lighting effects, and visual elements to convey emotions and information typically conveyed through sound.
Fostering Inclusivity and Community: Promote inclusivity by allowing everyone, regardless of hearing abilities, to participate and engage with the story in a shared space, strengthening a sense of community and understanding.
Beyond Audio-based Narratives: Provide a unique and inclusive storytelling experience that goes beyond traditional audio-based narratives, catering to diverse sensory capabilities.
Engagement with a Multi-Dimensional Experience: Enable individuals with hearing impairments to immerse themselves in the storytelling experience and connect with the narrative on a deeper level without sole reliance on subtitles.

Retrospective Reflection

One of the most significant insights I obtained from this unique project was the chance to conduct interviews and collect valuable feedback from ABC representatives. This opportunity, in particular, provided me with a deeper understanding of the distinctions between inclusivity and accessibility. I have always been told to consider accessibility guidelines during the design process. However, embracing inclusivity has enabled us to refine our concept ideas even further. What began as a pop-up exhibition for the hard-of-hearing community evolved into an initiative welcoming any user, aiming to reduce stigma surrounding individuals facing hearing challenges.

Silent Narratives Pop-Up Exhibition