Persona-scenarios in Game Development: Communication tensions between Hearing Aid Users & Communication Partners

The 3D Tune-In project developed serious/leisure game applications to educate hearing aid (HA) users about how HA functionalities could improve hearing in different sound environments. The application development team had little prior experience catering for end-users with hearing loss. HA users and their communication partner were consulted regarding their communication difficulties and communication strategies in different environments. Participants reported many hearing problems; affective issues; problems with their HA; tensions in their relationship caused by hearing issues; and they noted a need for training in how best to use HAs. Persona-scenarios were created outlining user needs and goals and a user-requirements table detailed how end-users might interact with proposed applications, both of which were presented to developers during the initial application design period. Game developers identified that these resources positively influenced the development of their application. They were able to produce a useful and useable application for their new target user.