How would you design an alarm clock for the blind?

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Anonymous · Accepted Answer

User - The user is defined as blind people, which I'm assuming can be defined as
people completely without sight, but have their other senses.
Pain points of this user:
1) Can't see the time on the face of the alarm clock.
2) Can't see the alarm time when setting the alarm.
3) Can't see the buttons on the alarm clock, but can feel them.
4) Can't see the alarm clock to know if it's on or not, but can feel a toggle
on/off switch.
Since the main purpose of the alarm clock is to set an alarm, then I'll focus on
pain points to do with having an alarm, not see the time (pain points 2 and 3).
Possible ideas (with impact versus difficulty to implement):
1) Button that reads out what is displayed on the clock when pushed (low impact,
low difficulty)
2) Voice controlled (high impact, high difficulty)
3) Button to click through alarm setting options, and read aloud while you go
(medium impact, low difficulty)
Because the last option has the highest impact to difficulty ratio, it would
have the best return for effort.
Doing a quick sanity check - if the purpose of this new feature was just to add
accessibility for blind users, then the last option is the best. However, is the
purpose to build an alarm clock specifically for blind users, then the second
option would be the best. It would has a high effort up-front to set it up, but
would provide significant differentiation for the business, and unique value to
users.

How would you design an alarm clock for the blind?

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