Enhancing interaction and accessibility in museums and exhibitions with augmented reality and screen readers

Abstract

Throughout the evolution of humanity, technologies have served as support for new evolutionary horizons. It is an unambiguous fact that technologies have positively influenced the masses, but they have also brought a remoteness with local cultures, often making them oblivious. Among the new technologies and forms of interaction, we have augmented reality and screen readers that allow the device to read the content. This paper presents AIMuseum. It aims to facilitate accessing and interacting with cultural environments for people with different abilities, combining the use of technologies with local museums, artworks, and exhibitions. The work was evaluated with 38 users, ranging from 16 to 41 years old, and five declared having one type of disability. They used the application and answered a questionnaire. The results showed a positive experience and improved the users’ interest in the artworks and their additional information.