Current Research Projects

• The Elder Interface
  • Researcher: Denis Anson
  • This project is seeking to identify changes to the standard computer interface that will improve access by elders. The identified changes will be either alterations of settings to the default computer, or no-cost/low-cost add ons to modify the operation of the computer.
• Long-Term Functional Impact of Wheeled Mobility
  • Researcher: Denis Anson
  • It has been well documented that a high proportion of young wheelchair users develop injuries to their shoulders, elbows, and wrists over time. The affect of manual and powered mobility on the function of older wheelchair users has not been documented. This longitudinal study will track the levels of functional independence of older users of manual and powered mobility devices to assess changes .

• Who Makes the Grade?: A Study of Dragon Naturally Speaking and Speak-Q Voice Recognition with Children

  • Researchers: Catherine Dempsey, Bethany McCullough, Elizabeth Mistrik, Amanda Morgan
  • Speak-Q is a new, novel approach to speech recognition, using it as an assist to convetional typing rather than as a replacement for the keyboard and mouse. The different feature set of Speak-Q makes a traditional comparison of products meaningless. This study will evaluate relative productivity of school-age children using Dragon Naturally Speaking or Speak-Q, to assess the usability of these products with a school-age population.

• Text Generation: A Comparison of Dasher Software and Wivik Keyboard with a Chubon Overlay

  • Researchers: Marissa Maglioli, OTS, Chrissy Mancia, OTS, Christine Swink, OTS
  • Dasher is a new, novel input method for text that has little similarity to any other available input tool. This study will assess the utility of this product for text generation as compared with a more traditional on-screen keyboard.
• Comparison of Single Digit Keyboards

  • Vanessa Klotz, OTS, Ashley Light, OTS, Angela Sancinella, OTS, Johnna Schickram, OTS

  • This study is comparing the efficacy of two competing single-digit keyboard layouts. The Chubon keyboard layout, developed in 1988, is included in a number of on-screen keyboards as the "Frequency Based" layout. The Fitaly keyboard was designed as an on-screen keyboard, and does not use the conventional 101 key keyboard layout. This study will compare the typing speeds achieved by typical novice users of these device.
• Efficacy of three infrared head-pointing devices for mouse emulation tasks
  • Amanda Berry, Stacie Hershey, Janine Hoffman and Emily Usinowicz
  • This study is examining the relative performance of the three head-pointing assistive technology devices that are currently readily available for use by indivduals with disabilities. These devices are the HeadMouse Extreme, for Origin Instruments; Tracker One, from Madentec Limited; and the SmartNav, from Naturalpoint.
• Chubon & Dvorak: A Comparison of Alternative Keyboard Layouts
  • Denis Anson, MS, OTR/L, Jacqueline Doninetz, OTS, Christine Hess, OTS, Tara Kelly, OTS, & Kimberly Roig, OTS
  • This study is part of a series to establish a standard metric for alternative text input systems. Historically, nearly all comparisons of alternative keyboard layouts have indicated that the QWERTY layout, the standard for computer keyboards, is the best, in spite of its known ergonomic deficiencies. This study, combined with past studies comparing the Chubon with QWERTY and Dvorak with QWERTY will form the basis of a demonstration that new technologies can be compared against a standard measure, in order to provide relative utility information, which will be available on the ATRI website.