Evaluation tools

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Overview | Cap. simulators (3) | Expert appraisal | User involvement (3) | Cap. assessment | Exclusion audit (2)

Capability simulators

Introduction | Physical simulators | Software simulators

Cambridge University has developed impairment simulators for vision and hearing. These simulators can be accessed from the Links & resources section, which also contains links to other recommended simulators.

The vision simulator modifies a digital image to show what the image might look like when viewed with a variety of different vision conditions. Each condition can be applied with different severity levels.

Different design concepts can quickly be compared to assess their appearance with visual impairments.

The hearing simulator modifies an audio file to simulate hearing conditions such as the natural deterioration caused with ageing. Different sounds can be compared to see how they are affected by this loss, and the effect of the ambient background noise can also be appreciated.

When viewed with full vision capability, the text on this toaster is difficult to read and when viewed with reduced contrast sensitivity, all the controls become difficult to locate.

A toaster viewed with full vision capability, compared to the same toaster viewed with reduced contrast sensitivity

A redesign that colours all the controls to contrast with the surrounding material makes them easier to locate with or without reduced contrast sensitivity.

A suggested redesign improves the contrast of areas so users with reduced contrast sensitivity can still identify the controls