Using Personas to Support Augmentative Alternative Communication Device Design: A Validation and Evaluation Study

Interactive computing devices are increasingly being deployed to support individuals in improving and managing health, aging in place, and as assistive devices for those with functional limitations. Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) aids are devices that help individuals with speech impairments communicate. They are typically prescribed by clinicians (speech–language pathologists) based on a specific individual’s physical needs and disease classification. While personas have been used in the design of other consumer technologies, they have not been frequently deployed in the design of clinically oriented technologies, including AAC devices. Instead, a clinical/rehabilitation engineering approach to AAC design is typically used, focusing on the physical and symptomatic needs of a diverse group of individuals, and involving the consumer on the level of making feature recommendations and/or testing the technology near the end of the design and production process. To address this challenge, three personas of individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis were developed, intended for use in AAC device design. This article presents results from two studies which evaluated the personas. In the first study, personas were validated using an online survey of eight speech–language pathologists, and interviews of seven individuals with ALS that were not involved in the development of personas. In the second study, AAC device designers were asked to assess the potential utility of the personas for AAC device design. Results showed that developed personas had validity in representing individuals with ALS and that the personas would be useful for AAC device designers. The methods used can be extended for validation and assessment of personas developed for other purposes.