Papers

Communication-oriented Internet technologies and activities such as social media sites and blogs, have become an important component of community and employment participation, not just in the specific function of activities, but as a link to larger communities of practice and professional connections. The occurrence of these activities, evident in their presence on Facebook, LinkedIn and other online communities, represents an important opportunity...

This paper discusses the relationship between policy research and policy change, and it provides examples of the policy research outcomes informed by the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Mobile Wireless Technologies for People with Disabilities’ (Wireless RERC) policy research process. In 2005 and 2006, the center conducted empirical research, using the policy Delphi polling methodology, to probe key stakeholders’ opinions on the most significant issues surrounding...

Encouraging wellness at home is a necessary step in alleviating the burden of an increasing number of older adults on the health care system and can also provide a vehicle for promoting independence and quality of life among older adults. However, aging at home comes with its own challenges, one of which is depression caused by isolation, a serious condition related to healthy aging and outcomes affecting a large number of older adults. Addressing communication needs across housing options...

A mental scanning paradigm was used to examine the representation of nonspeech sounds in working memory. Participants encoded sonifications – nonspeech auditory representations of quantitative data – as either verbal lists, visuospatial images, or auditory images. The number of tones and overall frequency changes in the sonifications were also manipulated to allow for different hypothesized patterns of reaction times across encoding strategies. Mental scanning times revealed...

Users interact with mobile devices through menus, which can include many items. Auditory menus have the potential to make those devices more accessible to a wide range of users. However, auditory menus are a relatively new concept, and there are few guidelines that describe how to design them. In this paper, we detail how visual menu concepts may be applied to auditory menus in order to help develop design guidelines. Specifically, we examine how to optimize the designs of a new contextual...

The world's population is aging dramatically and in most countries the cost of care is rising rapidly. We need a system which helps to minimize the onset of chronic conditions which are costly to treat and diminish quality of life, rather than one primarily directed towards the care of the sick. Innovative use of new technologies may be the only way to provide care affordably in future and to scale that care to far greater numbers as our societies adapt to change. Ambient Assisted Living...

Natural disasters and other public emergencies can leave people stranded for days, cause breaks in communication networks, and make streets and walkways impassable. What will you do to ensure your safety during those critical first days of an emergency in your community? Presented here are guidelines for preparing for emergency situations and a checklist for building an emergency kit.

Access to and use of mobile wireless technology has become critical to social and economic participation for people with disabilities. As the technology increases in power and sophistication, these customers increasingly rely on mobile devices and software for functions previously available only through dedicated ‘assistive technology’. Successfully serving this large and growing population has become a market imperative as well as a legislative mandate for the wireless industry...

Access to and use of wireless consumer technology (e.g., mobile devices like cellphones and tablets, software and services) has become critical to social and economic participation. This is especially true for people with disabilities. This article presents data from the Survey of User Needs (SUN) conducted by the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Wireless Technologies (Wireless RERC) from September 2012 through April 2013. The SUN focuses on wireless use among people with...

 People with disabilities are generally more vulnerable during disasters and publicemergencies than the general population. Physical, sensory and cognitive impairments may result ingreater difficulty in receiving and understanding emergency alert information, and greater difficulty intaking appropriate action. The use of social media in the United States has grown considerably inrecent years. This has generated increasing interest on the part of national, state and localjurisdictions in...