Design of a Low-Cost Home Automation System with Auditory and Haptic Feedback to Support the Autonomy of People with Visual Impairment: A Pilot Study in La Maná, Ecuador

Abstract

Visual impairment affects an estimated 2.2 billion people worldwide, and access to assistive technology remains disproportionately limited in low- and middle-income regions. This study reports the design and pilot usability evaluation of a low-cost home automation prototype (under US$300) built with voice-controlled lighting and appliances, door-status sensing, ultrasonic obstacle detection, haptic and auditory feedback, and an emergency alert function, developed for households in the canton of La Maná, Cotopaxi, Ecuador. Fifteen participants with visual impairment (8 total blindness, 5 low vision, 2 partial blindness) completed a single-session, pre-post pilot combining the System Usability Scale (SUS), a five-task performance checklist, and semi-structured interviews. Overall task success was 88.0% (66/75 instances), with the door-status and emergency-alert tasks completed without error by all participants. The change in SUS score between the initial expectation and post-use ratings was not statistically significant (Wilcoxon W = 28.0, p = 0.121); however, prior technology familiarity strongly predicted post-use usability (Spearman's ρ = 0.860, p < .0001). Findings suggest the prototype is technically viable and safety-relevant tasks perform reliably, but perceived usability depends heavily on users' prior exposure to assistive or voice-based technology, and voice-command syntax flexibility needs improvement to accommodate regional vocabulary.