{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,22]],"date-time":"2026-10-22T16:51:46Z","timestamp":1792687906990,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":19,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,6]],"date-time":"2022-07-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1657065600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Purpose<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Studies have reported that knowledge and skills to operate smartphones among people with profound visual loss are limited especially in low- to middle-income countries as many important functions of smartphones are unknown to them. This report presents smartphone use, its challenges, and enablers in two persons with profound visual impairment while executing their daily routine and instrumental living activities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Case selection and interview<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>During the lockdown period, we provided tele (vision) rehabilitation service. From the list of the callers, we purposely selected two callers with significant visual impairment, one woman and one man, to allow us to gather rich information related to smartphone use, enablers, and challenges faced during the usage. A semistructured interview was done to obtain insights into the information. The selection criteria were (1) continuous smartphone use independently for more than 5 years; (2) graduation-level education or higher; and (3) no additional disabilities.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We found substantial use of smartphones in executing their daily and instrumental daily living activities by these two participants. The extent of the use of mainstream apps for various tasks was almost equivalent to what we observed among sighted persons. The most important enabling factors were the presence of a screen reader \u201cTalkBack\u201d on Android phones and data connection of the mobile, followed by the ability to assess multiple languages using the text-to-speech feature. A supportive environment from peers or family members is important for the beginner. Poor battery backup, frequent unwanted ads or pop-ups while using the phone, not readable contents with a screen reader, e.g., CAPTCHA, and slow or unresponsiveness of the screen reader were frequent challenges faced by them. Both cases reported that around 80% of daily solutions were helped by using a smartphone.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The current advances in accessible technology of smartphones enable an individual with profound visual loss to use them almost equivalently as a sighted person. To reduce the gap in digital inclusion, people with visual impairment should be encouraged to use the smartphone for their daily solutions with attention to proper training.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2022.912460","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,6]],"date-time":"2022-07-06T12:59:36Z","timestamp":1657112376000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":16,"title":["Challenges and Enablers for Smartphone Use by Persons With Vision Loss During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Report of Two Case Studies"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Suraj Singh","family":"Senjam","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Susan A.","family":"Primo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"513","DOI":"10.1016\/j.survophthal.2012.10.004","article-title":"Mobile assistive technologies for the visually impaired","volume":"58","author":"Hakobyan","year":"2013","journal-title":"Surv Ophthalmol"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"53","DOI":"10.3109\/01658107.2013.874448","article-title":"Tablet and smartphone accessibility features in the low vision rehabilitation","volume":"58","author":"Irvine","year":"2014","journal-title":"Neuro Ophthalmol."},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"163","DOI":"10.3109\/08820538.2015.1045151","article-title":"Usage of accessibility options for the iPhone and iPad in a visually impaired population","volume":"32","author":"Robinson","year":"2017","journal-title":"Semin Ophthalmol."},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"34","DOI":"10.1080\/10400435.2019.1682084","article-title":"Exploring the use of smartphones and tablets among people with visual impairments: are mainstream devices replacing the use of traditional visual aids?","volume":"34","author":"Martiniello","year":"2019","journal-title":"Assist Technol."},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"FuglerudKS\n            TjostheimI\n            GunnarssonB\n          Use of Social Media by People with Visual Impairments: Usage Levels, Attitudes Barriers Smart real estate transactions View project MOSKUS (MObile musculoSKeletal User Self-management) View Project.2012","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-31522-0_85"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3133","DOI":"10.1145\/2556288.2557415","article-title":"Visually impaired users on an online social network","volume-title":"Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems","author":"Wu","year":"2014"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"552","DOI":"10.1111\/opo.12136","article-title":"Smartphone, tablet computer and e-reader use by people with vision impairment","volume":"34","author":"Crossland","year":"2014","journal-title":"Ophthalmic Physiol Opt."},{"key":"B8","first-page":"802","article-title":"Studying older people with visual impairments using mainstream smartphones with the aid of the ezismart keypad and apps","volume":"256","author":"Fuglerud","year":"2018","journal-title":"Stud Health Technol Inform"},{"key":"B9","first-page":"513","article-title":"Assistive technology for vision-impairments: Anagenda for the ICTD community","volume-title":"Proc 20th Int Conf Companion.","author":"Pal","year":"2011"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"SankhiP\n            SandnesFE\n          A Glimpse Into Smartphone Screen Reader Use Among Blind Teenagers in Rural Nepal. Taylor & Francis2020","DOI":"10.1080\/17483107.2020.1818298"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1080\/10400435.2021.1907485","article-title":"Smartphone usage among people living with severe visual impairment and blindness","author":"Abraham","year":"2021","journal-title":"Assist Technol Assist Technol."},{"key":"B12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"524","DOI":"10.1080\/1369118X.2015.1008542","article-title":"Social media use and participation: a meta-analysis of current research","volume":"18","author":"Boulianne","year":"2015","journal-title":"Inf Commun Soc"},{"key":"B13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"56572\n            FuglerudKS\n            Tj\u00f8stheimI\n            GunnarssonBR\n            TollefsenM\n          Berlin, HeidelbergSpringerUse of Social Media by People With Visual Impairments: Usage Levels, Attitudes Barriers. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)2012","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-31522-0_85"},{"key":"B14","volume-title":"Global Cooperation on Assistive Technology (GATE)","year":"2016"},{"key":"B15","unstructured":"UN Sustainable Development Goals, Leave No One Behind"},{"key":"B16","unstructured":"56572\n            FuglerudKS\n            Tj\u00f8stheimI\n            GunnarssonBR\n            TollefsenM\n          Berlin, HeidelbergSpringerUse of Social Media by People with Visual Impairments: Usage Levels, Attitudes Barriers. Lect Notes Comput Sci (including Subser Lect Notes Artif Intell Lect Notes Bioinformatics)2012"},{"key":"B17","first-page":"259","article-title":"Social media platforms for low-income blind people in India","volume-title":"ASSETS 2015 - Proc 17th Int ACM SIGACCESS Conf Comput Access.","author":"Vashistha","year":"2015"},{"key":"B18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"418","DOI":"10.1108\/IJPCC-09-2015-0033","article-title":"The accessibility and usage of smartphones by Arab-speaking visually impaired people","volume":"11","author":"Al-Mouh","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int J Pervasive Comput Commun."},{"key":"B19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"7210","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eswa.2014.05.031","article-title":"Accessible smartphones for blind users: a case study for a wayfinding system","volume":"41","author":"Rodriguez-Sanchez","year":"2014","journal-title":"Expert Syst Appl."}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Public Health"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2022.912460\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,6]],"date-time":"2022-07-06T12:59:46Z","timestamp":1657112386000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2022.912460\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,6]]},"references-count":19,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpubh.2022.912460"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpubh.2022.912460","relation":{},"ISSN":["2296-2565"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2296-2565","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,6]]},"article-number":"912460"}}