The Use of Smart Glasses for Environmental Controls

March 24, 2026 updated by: Graham Henderson, NHS Lothian

The Impact of Smart Glasses on the Usability and Satisfaction of Operating an Environmental Control System or Communication Aid

Environmental control systems are a type of assistive technology that can be controlled by a wide variety of different methods (e.g. switches) and can assist people with physical disabilities to control various electronic devices in the home. Communication aids are designed to assist people who have difficulties speaking to communicate. Both systems are designed to provide independence and potentially could have a positive effect on quality of life.

The majority of communication aid and environmental control systems aimed at high end users require a screen to be mounted in front of the user. The limitations with this are that the user is only able to access their device when it has been suitably mounted in front of them. There are occasions when mounting devices in front of the user is difficult due to other considerations for example transfers in and out of a wheelchair. As smart glasses can potentially be worn at all times during the day this could provide an effective alternative solution.

The purpose of this study is to explore with service users the usability and satisfaction provided by smart glasses when operating a communication aid/environmental control system. The study will achieve the above aim by undertaking a satisfaction questionnaire prior and post a 3 week trial of using smart glasses with their device. In addition an interview will be carried out with participants to explore the impact that smart glasses has had on the usability of their device.

Participants will be recruited by contacting eligible patients of the NHS Lothian Environmental Control Service and communication aid service. The end point of the study will be 8 months from the start date (allowing for follow up data to be collected for anyone recruited towards the end of the 6-month recruitment period).

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

4

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United Kingdom
      • Edinburgh, United Kingdom, EH9 2HL
        • SMART Centre, Astley Ainslie Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Existing environmental control system user (age 18-80).
  • Neurological condition.
  • Cognitive ability to answer the questions and to give consent.
  • Current environmental control system is compatible with smart glasses display.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Current environmental control system or communication aid is not compatible with smart glasses display.
  • Rapidly deteriorating condition

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Device Feasibility
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Smart glasses
The participant will be provided with a set of smart glasses (X-REAL Air 2) as an alternative display for their existing environmental control system. They will have the smart glasses to trial for a period of 3 weeks.
Device: Provision of smart glasses for environmental control use
To the authors knowledge there has not been a clinical trial that includes the use of smart glasses with environmental controls. The smart glasses were used with environmental control systems that had a USB-C display output.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Quest Device Score From Baseline to Post-intervention
Time Frame: Baseline to 3 weeks
The QUEST 2.0 is a 12-item instrument that measures user satisfaction with assistive technology devices and related services. Each item is scored from 1 to 5, where 1 indicates the lowest satisfaction and 5 indicates the highest satisfaction. The instrument includes 8 device items and 4 service items. In this study, only the 8 device items were administered because the focus was on the assistive technology device itself. The QUEST Device Score was calculated as the mean of the 8 device item scores, producing a possible total score range from 1.0 (lowest satisfaction) to 5.0 (highest satisfaction). The outcome represents the change in QUEST Device Score, defined as the difference between baseline and the score obtained at the end of the 3-week smart-glasses trial.
Baseline to 3 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Semi-structured interview
Time Frame: 3 weeks after provision of smart glasses
The semi-structured interviews were conducted using six open-ended questions. The questions posed included ones relating to both satisfaction and usability. This included ones about the advantages, disadvantages and any points for improvement for the smart glasses. Additional questions included ones about making comparisons to using a traditional screen setup, how easy or hard the smart glasses were to use and whether participants would continue to use the smart glasses. When appropriate follow up questions were asked to elicit more information about answers.
3 weeks after provision of smart glasses

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

NHS Lothian

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

August 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 10, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 10, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

April 17, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 24, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • AC24008
  • 24/NW/0057 (Other Identifier: North West - Greater Manchester East Research Ethics Committee)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Not required. A summary of the data in an anonymised form is sufficient.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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