Evaluating The User Experience In An Augmentative and Alternative Communication System

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) aims to support the development of communication skills in people with complex communication needs. For this purpose, AAC platforms have emerged as an attempt to compensate, either temporarily or permanently, for communication limitations. This paper evaluates the user experience and effectiveness of an AAC platform based on the perceptions of interns at a speech-language pathology clinic in Brazil. To this end, we conducted a focus group as the primary qualitative data collection method, with the objective of identifying opportunities for improvement and optimization. The findings underscore the need to enhance voice naturalness, feedback clarity, and navigational simplicity in order to strengthen user autonomy and communicative confidence. By capturing participants’ lived experiences and emotional perceptions, the focus group generated practical insights that inform the development of more intuitive, responsive, and human-centered AAC systems.