Feedback Design

The design of system responses that communicate to users what is happening, what the system understood, and what actions are needed. Effective feedback design is critical in assistive technology, where users may have limited sensory, motor, or cognitive channels for receiving and interpreting feedback. Research on gaze-based AAC found that the Look to Speak application provided inadequate feedback — no indication of why selections failed, no guidance on improving positioning, and no progress indicators during multi-step selections. Good feedback design for AT should provide clear, multimodal (visual, auditory, haptic) indications of successful actions, errors, and corrective steps.