Communication Design Quarterly Feb 2018

Designing for human-machine collaboration

Krista Kennedy

Abstract

This study examines design aspects that shape human/machine collaboration between wearers of smart hearing aids and their networked aids. The Starkey Halo hearing aid and the TruLink iPhone app that facilitates real-time adjustments by the wearer offer a case study in designing for this sort of collaboration and for the wearer's rhetorical management of disability disclosure in social contexts. Through close textual analysis of the company's promotional materials for patient and professional audiences as well as interface analysis and autoethnography, I examine the ways that close integration between the wearer, onboard algorithms and hardware, and geolocative telemetry shape everyday interactions in multiple hearing situations. Reliance on ubiquitous, familiar hardware such as smart phones and intuitive interface design can drive patient comfort and adoption rates of these complex technologies that influence cognitive health, social connectedness, and crucial information access.

Journal
Communication Design Quarterly
Published
2018-02-16
DOI
10.1145/3188387.3188391
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Topics
qualitative research multimodality disability studies multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Swartz (2024)
    Biodigital Literacy through Intimate Data: User Perceptions of FemTech and Pelv…
    Communication Design Quarterly
  2. Swartz (2024)
    Biodigital Literacy through Intimate Data: User Perceptions of FemTech and Pelv…
    Communication Design Quarterly

Cites in this index (3)

  1. Jack (2016)
    Leviathan and the Breast Pump: Toward an Embodied Rhetoric of Wearable Technology
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  2. Kerschbaum (2014)
    On Rhetorical Agency and Disclosing Disability in Academic Writing
    Rhetoric Review
  3. Mara et al. (2009)
    Posthuman Rhetorics and Technical Communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
Also cites 9 works outside this index ↓
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CrossRef global citation count: 18 View in citation network →

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