Visual Design of Robot-Assisted Surgery for the Hearing Impaired
How can designing audience-specific visualizations improve the user experience of a novel surgical platform? What visual aspects are important to improve accuracy, orientation, and safety for the surgeon user? What visual aspects are important to reduce fear and improve trust for patients about to undergo the surgery?
Robotic cochlear implantation is a novel surgical technique that restores the sense of hearing in deaf patients by implanting a tiny electrode through the skull into the cochlea, the organ that allows us to hear. The platform requires high-resolution patient-specific 3D visualizations generated from CT scans. As a surgeon, I believe that understanding the visual needs of the various audiences of the system is of utmost importance. This Master’s project uses qualitative and quantitative research methods to show how lifelike visualizations improve the user experience for surgeons regarding accuracy, orientation, and satisfaction, while graphical visualizations can enhance patient understanding and trust in this novel surgical system.