Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

SOSPhone: a mobile application for emergency calls

  • Long paper
  • Published:
Universal Access in the Information Society Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The general adoption of mobile devices and its wide network coverage made it possible to make emergency calls virtually everywhere, even in the absence of a valid contact. However, there is still generally the need for audio connection. This restriction is a problem for deaf people, but also for the elderly and people without disabilities who face sudden situations where speech is hard to articulate. In this context, this paper presents SOSPhone, a prototype of a mobile application that was developed to enable users to make emergency calls using an iconographic touch interface running in a touchscreen mobile device. The prototype implements the client-side of the application and was demonstrated and evaluated by a large number of users, including people without any disability, emergency services' professionals and deaf people. This paper describes the SOSPhone prototype and presents the results of the interface evaluation process, which is important to validate the main client-side interaction and architectural principles in order to proceed with the integration with each specific national emergency services' platform.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. http://www.pordata.pt.

  2. http://www.eena.org/.

  3. http://www.fcc.gov/911.

  4. http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/emergency-access-advisory-committee-eaac.

  5. http://www.telesor.es.

  6. http://www.redpanicbutton.com.

  7. http://ubilert.pt.to.

  8. http://www.chorist.eu.

  9. http://www.heero-pilot.eu.

  10. http://www.reach112.eu.

  11. http://www.fgdc.gov/HSWG/index.html.

  12. http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_os-ww-monthly-201202-201202-bar.

  13. http://www.w3.org/TR/mwabp/.

  14. http://trace.wisc.edu/docs/2010-phone-essentials/index.php.

  15. http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw110802&select=1#1.

  16. http://www.developer.nokia.com/Community/Blogs/blog/nokia-developer-news/2011/03/25/open-letter-to-developer-community.

References

  1. Bhattacharya S., Basu A. (2009) Design of an iconic communication aid for individuals in india with speech and motion impairments. Assistive Technology 21(4):173–187 doi:10.1080/10400430903246035

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Birkos, K., Papageorgiou, C., Dagiuklas, T., Kotsopoulos, S.: User and network level evaluation of voip over emergency ad-hoc networks. In: Proceedings of the 5th International ICST Mobile Multimedia Communications Conference, Mobimedia ’09, pp. 58:1–58:6. ICST (Institute for Computer Sciences, Social-Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering), ICST, Brussels (2009). doi:10.4108/ICST.MOBIMEDIA2009.7475

  3. Buttussi, F., Chittaro, L., Carchietti, E., Coppo, M.: Using mobile devices to support communication between emergency medical responders and deaf people. In: Proceedings of the 12th international conference on Human computer interaction with mobile devices and services, MobileHCI ’10, pp. 7–16. ACM (2010)

  4. Castro, L.A., Favela, J., García-Peña, C., Mora, J.: In-situ evaluation of a telephone triage mobile application for in-home elderly care. In: Proceedings of the 3rd Mexican Workshop on human computer interaction, MexIHC ’10. Universidad Politecnica de San Luis Potos, San Luis Potos (2010)

  5. Chalkia, E., Bekiaris, E.: A harmonised methodology for the components of software applications accessibility and its evaluation. In: Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Universal access in human-computer interaction: design for all and eInclusion—vol. Part I, UAHCI’11, pp. 197–205. Springer, Berlin (2011). http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2022591.2022615

  6. Chan Y.F., Alagappan K., Rella J., Bentley S., Soto-Greene M., Martin M. (2010) Interpreter services in emergency medicine. The Journal of Emergency Medicine 38(2):133–139 doi:10.1016/j.jemermed.2007.09.045

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Committee, E.A.A.: Emergency access advisory committee (eaac) report and recommendations. Tech. rep., Federal Communications Commission (FCC) (2012)

  8. Consultin, A.: Comreg trends survey 2007—research on the experiences of electronic communications services by users with disabilities. Tech. rep., Commision for Communications Regulation (2007)

  9. Delaney, B.: Considerations in making electronic communications accessible to all. Tech. rep., National Authority for Communications—ANACOM (2010)

  10. Dix A., Finlay J.E., Abowd G.D., Beale R. (2003) Human-Computer Interaction (3rd Edition). Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA

    Google Scholar 

  11. Fernandes, J.P., (2008) Emergency warnings with short message service. In: Coskun, H.G., Cigizoglu, H.K., Maktav M.D. (eds.) Integration of Information for Environmental Security, NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security, pp. 191–196. Springer, Netherlands

  12. Flynn, T., Kingsley, S., Marrion, J., Roberge, K.: Emergency communication effectiveness for deaf and hard of hearing in Victoria, Australia. Tech. rep., Worcester Polytechnic Institute (2010)

  13. Frank, R., Scherer, T., Simon, C., Engel, T.: A governmental vision on public safety group calls and object tracing. In: TIEMS 2007 14th Annual Conference—disaster recovery and relief—Current & Future Approaches, vol. 14. Hydrographic Institute of the Republic of Croatia (2007)

  14. Greenberg, S., Buxton, B.: Usability evaluation considered harmful (some of the time). In: Proceedings of the twenty-sixth annual SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, CHI ’08, pp. 111–120. ACM, New York (2008). doi:10.1145/1357054.1357074

  15. Hellstrom, G.: Wisdom : wireless information services for deaf people on the move. In: International Conference on Deaf Culture— Washington DC (2002)

  16. Hirayama, M., Suzuki, M., Hosono, N.: An emergency communication pad for hearing impaired persons. In: Computer Sciences and Convergence Information Technology (ICCIT), 2010 5th International Conference on, pp. 744–747 (2010). doi:10.1109/ICCIT.2010.5711152

  17. Hosono, N., Miki, H., Suzuki, M., Tomita, Y.: Urgent collaboration service for inclusive use. In: Smith, M., Salvendy G. (eds.) Human Interface and the Management of Information. Designing Information Environments, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 5617, pp. 49–58. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg (2009)

  18. Ito, A., Murakami, H., Watanabe, Y., Fujii, M., Yabe, T., Haraguchi, Y., Tomoyasu, Y., Kakuda, Y., Ohta, T., Hiramatsu, Y.: Universal use of information delivery and display system using ad hoc network for deaf people in times of disaster. In: Broadband Communications, Information Technology Biomedical Applications, 2008 Third International Conference on, pp. 486–491 (2008). doi:10.1109/BROADCOM.2008.57

  19. Korkeakoulu, T.: Report on user practices and telecommunication state-of-the-art. Tech. Rep. SP1.D, CHORIST Project (2006)

  20. Kyng, M., Nielsen, E.T., Kristensen, M.: Challenges in designing interactive systems for emergency response. In: Proceedings of the 6th conference on Designing Interactive systems, DIS ’06, pp. 301–310. ACM, New York (2006)

  21. Liu C.H., Chiu H.P., Hsieh C.L., Li R.K. (2010) Optimizing the usability of mobile phones for individuals who are deaf. Assistive Technology 22(2):115–127 doi:10.1080/10400435.2010.483649

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Mitchell, H., Johnson, J.: Wireless emergency alerts : An accessibility study. ISCRAM (May), 1–5 (2010)

  23. Mitchell, H., Johnson, J., LaForce, S.: The human side of regulation: emergency alerts. In: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Advances in Mobile Computing and Multimedia, MoMM ’10. ACM, New York (2010)

  24. Mueller, J., Morris, J., Jones, M.: Accessibility of emergency communications to deaf citizens. Int. J. Emerg. Manag. 7, 41–46 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Nakazono, K., Kakuta, M., Nagashima, Y., Hosono, N.: Development of universal communication aid and its design concept—for use by hearing-impaired people and foreign travelers. Tech. Rep. 7, NTT Technical Review (2010)

  26. Peffers K., Tuunanen T., Rothenberger M., Chatterjee S. (2007) A design science research methodology for information systems research. J. Manage. Inf. Syst. 24:45–77 doi:10.2753/MIS0742-1222240302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Pilling D., Barrett P. (2008) Text communication preferences of deaf people in the united kingdom. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education 13(1):92–103 doi:10.1093/deafed/enm034

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Song, W., Kim, J.Y., Schulzrinne, H., Boni, P., Armstrong, M.: Using im and sms for emergency text communications. In: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Principles, Systems and Applications of IP Telecommunications, IPTComm ’09, pp. 4:1–4:7. ACM, New York (2009). doi:10.1145/1595637.1595643.

  29. Subcommitees, E.O.: 112 accessibility for people with disabilities. Tech. rep., European Emergency Number Association (EENA) (2012)

  30. Tsai, M.H., Chen, R., Sung, J.F., Wu, E., Wei, E., Wu, Z.H., Liang, J.S.: Efficient and flexible emergency communications in next generation mobile network. In: e-Business Engineering (ICEBE), 2011 IEEE 8th International Conference on, pp. 96 –101 (2011). doi:10.1109/ICEBE.2011.46

  31. United Nations: Universal declaration of human rights. U.S. Govt. Print. Off., Washington : (1949)

  32. World Health Organization and The World Bank: World report on disability. WHO Press (2011)

  33. Zafrulla, Z., Etherton, J., Starner, T.: Tty phone: direct, equal emergency access for the deaf. In: Proceedings of the 10th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility, Assets ’08. ACM, New York (2008)

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors of this paper would like to thank David Fonseca, a deaf engineer who was an enthusiastic user and provided important help in defining some of the application requirements and validating the presented approach from a deaf perspective. Also crucial was the contribution of several entities, by facilitating visits to emergency control centers and interviews with several professionals: the 112.pt South Emergency Control Center (“Centro Operacional Sul do serviço 112.pt”), the Portuguese National Institute for Medical Emergency (INEM—“Instituto Nacional de Emergência Médica”), the Vila Real Commander of the Portuguese National Authority for Civil Protection (ANPC—“Autoridade Nacional de Proteção Civil”) and the Emergency Room professionals of the Vila Real Hospital (CHTMAD—“Centro Hospitalar de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro”).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. INESC Technology and Science (INESC TEC), Porto, Portugal

    Hugo Paredes & Benjamim Fonseca

  2. University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal

    Hugo Paredes, Benjamim Fonseca, Miriam Cabo, Tania Pereira & Filipe Fernandes

Authors
  1. Hugo Paredes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Benjamim Fonseca
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Miriam Cabo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tania Pereira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Filipe Fernandes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hugo Paredes.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Paredes, H., Fonseca, B., Cabo, M. et al. SOSPhone: a mobile application for emergency calls. Univ Access Inf Soc 13, 277–290 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-013-0318-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-013-0318-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation