A fitting software comparative usability study to investigate transition challenges faced by hearing-aid practitioners

Abstract

Modern application interfaces for desktop PCs such as web-browsers, word processors, and media players share a standardized task oriented user interface (UI). Despite originating from different manufacturers these applications enable users to switch easily between different programs within the same application class, say between web-browsers. When compared to the standardization across these applications there is little or no standardization for different hearing-aid Fitting Software (FS). As a result, practitioners switching between different FS encounter transition challenges while they dispense hearing-aids from different manufacturers. We present usability findings to advocate an enhanced user-centered design process to alleviate the FS transition challenges faced by a practitioner and to improve system-wide usability within a FS. This article presents two main usability findings based on data from twenty-six practitioners who were new to Inspire, Starkey's FS; these practitioners were advanced users of FS from three top hearing-aid manufacturers. First, there was significant degradation in task performance for new Inspire users while they performed two standardized tasks. New Inspire users took twice as long to complete these two tasks when compared to an average Inspire user. Second, we found that there were three main categories of usability issues in Inspire; these usability issues coupled with the lack of a standardized UI across different FS exacerbated the transition challenges faced by new Inspire users. Our findings highlight the need for a stronger focus on user-centered design principles for FS manufacturers. We believe that user-centered design is one approach to minimize the effects of competitive marketing and business practices in the hearing-aid industry but still deliver an improved usable system to a practitioner. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.