Supporting Spontaneous Museum Visits by Deaf People: An Augmented Reality Application and a Case Study

This chapter presents research that aims to identify accessibility characteristics necessary for a satisfactory interaction of prelingual deaf users with the contents of a museum exhibition. To achieve this goal an application was developed and a case study carried out at the UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) Geodiversity Museum. Augmented reality was chosen in order to provide different types of information about one of the museum’s exhibition rooms. The application was submitted to an accessibility evaluation with experts and, subsequently, to tests with users, involving five prelingual deaf volunteers. The users’ observations occurred in the real context and identified the demands of the deaf and the effects of providing accessibility with the help of augmented reality.