Tips on designing inclusively for speech impediments
Problems, behaviors, needs & tools, plus design guidelines for building accessible products
In my article “The three levels of accessibility”, I mention the importance of designing for clarity and inclusivity. Not only to ensure everybody regardless of ability is able to access your site but so that developers can implement accessible code.
I will be discussing the various problems people face, their unique behaviors and needs, the tools they use, and how we can better accommodate them in our digital products. I’ve broken it into 5 sections across 5 articles:
Speech
Speech disabilities are characterized by the inability to produce or organize speech sounds and syllables correctly or with fluency — Deque University
It may be so severe that speech is impossible. It may be caused by a genetic problem or by a medical condition such as learning or auditory disabilities, a brain injury, or a stroke. It might be that the user is bilingual and communicating in a second language or a certain dialect/accent can’t be understood.
Using voice to access content on websites is rare but on apps, it is becoming more prominent. We tend to use this technology at home with our smart speakers, in the car, on our mobiles, or via apps like Zoom, Skype, or even tools familiar to UX Designers/Researchers UserTesting or UserZoom. Most businesses, if not all, do provide some level of interaction with their customers where speech is required. This can be as simple as providing a phone number to call for support or to take bookings. To more complicated technology like auto-transcripts that struggle with different dialects let alone with someone with a speech impediment.
Here are some conditions that may impact your user's ability to communicate with speech effectively:
- Apraxia of speech — inconsistent speech sounds, errors producing sounds in the correct order, words or phrases become difficult to understand
- Cluttering — increased speaking rate, incorrect rhythm, varied pitch, and combined sounds
- Dysarthria — weakened or full paralysis of muscles that are needed to produce speech, includes lips, lungs, throat, tongue, etc.
- Muteness — inability to speak due to anxiety, brain injuries, or inability to hear and learn speech
- Second language — not the primary language, varying levels of expertise and pronunciation
- Stuttering — influent, repetitive, misplaced, and prolonged speech (impacting both words and phrases)
- And more…
Behaviors & needs
Bilingual users and those with medical speech impediments will actively seek out alternative ways to complete speech-based tasks, for example, instead of contacting support via phone or video chat they prefer to use contact forms, emails, or online chat. If they are required to speak then they expect enough time to communicate. That means bots or customer support provide them the time to respond.
Bilingual users will use the browser's built-in web page translation to understand the content in their preferred language. They will also do the same while watching videos by using captions.
Problems
These customers experience web-based problems day to day with voice recognition technology, especially if the company solely relies on it. For example, there is significant frustration when an organization provides a phone number as the only method of contact. This issue is exacerbated when an automated system is used that requires the user to speak. The technology finds it difficult to understand the loudness and clarity of their voice. This can also be seen on voice assistants and auto-transcripts where it struggles to accurately portrait the conversation. This doesn’t just affect speech disability but also regional accents and varied dialects. If you have recorded a user interview using an auto-transcript you have most likely come across this problem.
Tools
Tools that can make a big impact and difference for speech impediments include:
- Speech-generating software
- Word prediction software
- Text-to-speech software
- Translation software
Inclusive design tips & tricks
If designing solutions that include voice commands or communication here are some things to think about:
Communication
- Use simple plain language, no jargon in conversation
- Provide enough time for users to respond, this is especially true for automated phone systems or the like
Content
- Content must be coded properly to be controlled by speech, a keyboard compatible website should help with this.
- Content like labels or buttons need to visually match with the source code so that it is clear what will be activated by speaking
Forms/Chat
- Provide text-based chat to interact with customer services (or at least email, contact forms, etc.)
- Include spell checker and text prediction on text inputs (think about messaging apps or chat windows)
Videos and transcripts
- Avoid automated captions/subtitles and transcripts, if time permits and the budget allows, generate this content manually (at least until AI gets better at understanding anything other than perfect speech)
Voice interactions
- Don’t rely on an interaction that uses voice only, make sure to provide alternatives
A final word on accessibility & inclusivity
When designing, be inclusive, inclusivity will not only allow anyone to access your website but it will provide a far greater baseline experience for everyone regardless of ability. I hope I have demonstrated over the past 5 articles that it isn’t only the most severe impediments that we design for. Our brains like to go to the extremes and we forget about the more common problems people face, anxiety, autism, dyslexia, deafness and hard of hearing, partial sight loss and colour blindness, fractured bones, repetitive stress injury, muteness, stuttering, and more…
If you want to know what it would be like to experience a few of the issues discussed across this accessibility series including visual, auditory, physical, and cognitive disabilities then check out this interactive article from ContentSquare:
What design tips do you have when designing for speech impediments? Let’s all share our knowledge and have a discussion in the comments!
