Scanning switch keypads are commonly used as augmentative and alternative communication aids for people with complex communication needs. Low communication rates and high error rates are some of the problems that users of scanned keyboards encounter in daily use, which could lead to the abandonment of this type of technology. Thus, this study presents a new configuration system for scanned keyboards using visual feedback recovery time to help the user have a better performance and experience when using this type of alternative communication.

The system was developed in C#. The control switch is realized by means of a wireless USB mouse button. In order to evaluate the system, 42 participants transcribed sentences using a system based on our recovery delay approach, as well as a second time-delay-free scanning system for comparison purposes. We analyzed the input rate, success rate, and probability of error occurrence. These data were used to compare the performance of the two types of systems.

The results showed that synchronization and selection errors were lower in the group that used the system with a recovery delay than in the group that used the layout without.

The error reduction provided by the recovery delay system, allows for a more stable and enjoyable user experience when using scanned keyboards to communicate. This contribution could improve the use of augmentative and alternative communication devices and therefore contribute to reducing the abandonment of this type of technology.