Designing with the ears in mind: The importance of visual signals
While I was completing a work term at Sonova, a hearing aid company based in Switzerland, I heard someone say “we need to design with the ears in mind” and it has stuck with me ever since. I wrote that down in my notebook to serve as a reminder and to guide me in my design decisions. This phrase immediately came to mind when I was invited to write a series for the UX Collective on how designers can make their work more hearing accessible.
I’ve decided to start broad and discuss the value of visual cues before later writing about specific areas of design such as websites and apps along with having flows that can accommodate users with hearing loss.
Many designers rely on sounds to notify the user (such as a chime when a phone receives a message or a bell to confirm a processed bank transfer, etc.). But that’s a problem because some folks have to find their way around the design; designers often miss that not everyone can perceive beeps, chimes, or the like reliably.
People with hearing loss, even those who use assistive technology such as hearing aids, can still miss out on some of these auditory cues. Hearing aids are designed to amplify the sounds around them, but if a sound is not close enough or there are other conflicting noises (like background music), it can be all the more challenging to notice auditory signals. This is why designers ought to consider using visual clues in parallel with their standard approach. There are other approaches as well, such as incorporating haptics (vibrations), however, here I will be focusing solely on the visual aspect.
In my previously stated examples, phones can use the flashlight to visually indicate a message has been received in addition to having the option of using the ringer. The banking app can have an animation that is paired with the chime to verify a successfully processed transfer. Visual cues provide benefits to people without hearing loss as well, sometimes having a silent notification is more appropriate in certain situations. That being said, when I talk about incorporating visual cues into a design, I do not mean instead of auditory cues. The two go hand-in-hand, and there are plenty of people that may not be able to rely solely on visual signals. The WHO estimates there are as many as 466 million people with hearing loss in 2020, a number that is only expected to rise with the aging baby boomer population. Having a diverse array of communication options ensures that people with different needs will all be able to access the service or product you are working on.
Here is a real-life example of how one could put some of the aforementioned techniques into use. I was once on a packed bus when more people were trying to get on. The bus driver shouted, “Please move to the back of the bus!” The driver shouted the command while facing the front of the bus and gave no visual indication that they were speaking, let alone trying to communicate with all of the passengers. As a result, people started moving towards the back, but got frustrated when one person would not move. This person had their back turned to the front of the bus so they couldn’t see the influx of new people trying to get onto the bus, but also did not hear the driver’s request, as they were deaf. They simply stood there, oblivious to the commotion behind them before they eventually turned around and saw people motioning for them to move.
This scenario happened years ago, but I still vividly remember it and continue to ponder how the bus system could be made more accessible for folks with hearing loss.
Going back to my original suggestion: visual indication. How might we make public transit more accessible for people with hearing loss? To be more specific, how might we incorporate more visual indicators to improve communication between the drivers and the passengers on public transit? The first thing that comes to mind is having lit arrows along the sides of the bus that flash when the driver wants people to move back. This is a more accessible solution for drivers who may have various communication needs as well. It is not always easy having to shout out, sometimes several times a day, to try and direct people as a part of your occupation. Another solution could look like a “move back” sign that turns on at the driver’s discretion, similar to a “fasten your seatbelts” type of indicator. This is different from the arrows as it is more subtle while still being a sign that people are familiar with, given their presence in the aforementioned aviation example.
This is just one everyday occurrence that demonstrates how frustrating it can be for deaf people trying to navigate in hearing-centric world. Keeping hearing accessibility at the forefront of any design discussion will reduce the friction that deaf and hard-of-hearing users face when interacting with many systems designed with only the hearing in mind.
One way to do this is to include a deaf or hard-of-hearing person in your user research studies. See if they have any challenges that are different from their hearing peers. There is another advantage to this, as people with hearing loss tend to have improved visual acuity. They can be incredibly useful content editors to ensure the eyes are drawn to the most prominent areas in your design. While I truly believe that working directly with deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers is the most effective way to ensure your designs are hearing accessible, this might not always be possible. In this case, be creative. Check to see that every auditory cue is paired with a visual one.
I encourage you to go forth and look at some of the creations around you. How do they use visual cues? How could they improve their current system to be friendlier for people with hearing loss? How can you bring this perspective into your own work? And finally, how might you design with the ears in mind?
