Zoom Redesign

Improving accessibility for deaf & hard of hearing users

A Georgia Tech class project with 3 fellow classmates to improve the Zoom experience for deaf and hard of hearing Zoom users in work meetings.

My Role

UX designer, UX Researcher

UX designer,
UX Researcher

Target user

Hearing impaired Zoom users

Timeline

Aug - Dec 2021

See Final Design

See Final Design

The background

While video conferencing tools like Zoom has skyrocketed since the pandemic, not everyone was super used to this new way of work. For this UX research project at Georgia Tech, my team decided to explore the unique challenges faced by the deaf / hard of hearing (DHH) group, and see how to make their experience in Zoom more accessible.

While video conferencing tools like Zoom has skyrocketed since the pandemic, not everyone was super used to this new way of work. For this UX research project at Georgia Tech, my team decided to explore the unique challenges faced by the deaf / hard of hearing (DHH) group, and see how to make their experience in Zoom more accessible.

Research

How do DHH do Zoom calls?

I recruited DHH Zoom users through novel ways, such as reaching out to deaf gaming communities on Discord, and then employed qualitative and quantitative methods to understand how they communicated among themselves, and with normal hearing users during Zoom calls.


I also leveraged school resources to interview ASL interpreters, as they are the communication bridge between DHH and normal hearing people. This unique position allowed me to extract insights that otherwise would have never thought about.

Research

Research Insights

Interpreters play a huge role in DHH's Zoom call experience

DHH users partner with interpreters to attend Zoom work meetings.

Interpreters are essentially an extension of DHH users, their needs should also be addressed.

DHH and interpreters don't have enough time before Zoom work calls to prepare

DHH users might need to onboard interpreters with work-specific vocab / translation preferences before meeting.

However, such preparation is hard to organize and carry out in advance.

Video quality & flexibility

DHH users want to focus on the interpreter's video feed. That's their interface to communication besides typing.

It's hard for DHH to get others' attention

DHH users can't talk over others, so they usually wave hands to seek attention, but it's so easy to miss. Lots of times interpreters intervene on their behalf.

Synshtesis

Introducing interventions

To consolidate the research insights, our team mapped out the typical Zoom meeting experience of DHH and interpreters. We decided to introduce solutions that would help with:


  • Pre-meeting prep between DHH and interpreters

  • DHH better getting others' attention during meeting

  • Allow DHH to better engage in meetings

Final design

New Accessibility Features

File sharing

DHH users previously had to separately email meeting files for interpreters to prepare. Now they can upload and send files together with the Zoom meeting invite.

Chit chat

Inspired by Zoom's waiting room, we made the pre meeting wait time more meaningful. DHH users and interpreters can inviteothers into chit chat, and knock out ASL translation preferences.

Chit chat

Inspired by Zoom's waiting room, we made the pre meeting wait time more meaningful. DHH users and interpreters can inviteothers into chit chat, and knock out ASL translation preferences.

Quote conversations

DHH users can now quote chat message to ask follow up questions, making their engagement more efficient and organic.

Visual attention seeking

Getting other's attention has been hard for DHH, and old Zoom emojis were easily missed. DHH users now have access to more visual effects that convey their intention to communicate.

Visual attention seeking

Getting other's attention has been hard for DHH, and old Zoom emojis were easily missed. DHH users now have access to more visual effects that convey their intention to communicate.

User Reviews

“The pre meeting breakout room is fantastic too. I wish these features won't be 100% reliant on the host enabling them, and everyone can turn it on.”

A DHH Zoom user

Lessons Learned

  • Taking users' varying willingness to share experience into account, and adjusting research plans.

  • Align multiple user personas' pain points, and design for solutions

  • Pilot research activity with smaller group first, and optimize the process to get better results .