[acb-diabetics] article about accessible meters.

Thu Feb 9 13:59:18 EST 2012

I am in a fight as we speak to have an accessible meter that I can get at a tier 1 cost of $15, instead of $45. I tried using a One Touch a  tier 1meter but couldn't read it. I have been using a Bayer USB which has some audible sounds and although the print is smaller it is very high contrast. As a visually impaired diabetic I do not feel I should have to pay $45 dollars every 3 months verses $15 because I can't read the meter they say I should use. I go to my doctors next week. I have blue cross. Any ideas?

________________________________
 From: Patricia LaFrance-Wolf <plawolf at earthlink.net>
To: 'Discussion list for diabetics and/or ACB issues' <acb-diabetics at acb.org> 
Sent: Thursday, February 9, 2012 1:24 PM
Subject: [acb-diabetics] article about accessible meters.

AccessWorld ® 
Technology and People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired 

February 2012 Issue Volume 13 Number 2 

Product Evaluations
Diabetes and Visual Impairment: An Update on Accessible Blood Glucose Meters
Darren Burton, John Lilly, Matthew Enigk, and Ricky Kirkendall

Because of the close relationship between diabetes and vision loss, we in the
AFB Tech product evaluation lab periodically track the accessibility of the
blood glucose meters used to help manage diabetes. Since our January 2008
AccessWorld article on the subject, the number of Americans with vision loss
who have diabetes has risen from 3.2 million to 3.9 million. In the same time
period, the number of accessible meters available on the US market has also
increased; this article reports on the accessibility of those new meters.

In 2008, we reported that there were five meters available with speech output,
but only one of those had comprehensive speech output that supported the
independent use of all of the features available on the meter. This time
around, we found 13 meters that had speech output, and four of those have
comprehensive speech output supporting all features. This article focuses on
those four meters:

The Prodigy Voice from Prodigy Diabetes Care 
The Solo V2 from Biosensor Medical Devices 
The Fora V20 from Fora Care, Inc 
The Fora V22 from Fora Care, Inc 
Product Descriptions
Prodigy Voice
The Prodigy Voice ($40) originally came on the market in 2007, and has since
been updated. The meter weighs 2.4 ounces and measures 2.2 by 4.0 by 0.8
inches. The front panel has a 1.2-inch by 1.5-inch monochrome black-on-gray
display with three control buttons below and two directional buttons to the
right. The round power button, also used to enter Memory Recall mode, is in the
right-most position of the control buttons, has a raised "M," and is
larger than the rest of the buttons. The triangular Settings button is the
center control button and has a raised "S" on it. The Repeat button
is the left control button and has a raised, left-pointing arrow on it. The
Repeat button is used to repeat the last spoken message or test result. The
speaker is located below the control buttons. The directional buttons located
to the right of the display have raised up and down arrows and are used to select
test results and change settings. The Prodigy Voice has a 3.5-millimeter
headphone jack near the bottom right side panel of the meter, which allows you
to connect headphones for privacy or a speaker for amplification. A mini-USB
port below the headphone jack allows you to download the meter's test results
to a computer using Prodigy's download software. There is also a slot on the
bottom left side panel to attach a lanyard for easy carrying.

Fora V20
The Fora V20 from Fora Care, Inc. ($70) weighs 2.08 ounces and measures 3.69 by
2.25 by 0.78 inches. The front panel has a 1.2-inch by 1.5-inch monochrome
black-on-gray display with three buttons below the display, two directional
buttons to the right of the display, and a strip eject slider on the top right
side panel. The Power button is the right-most control button and has a raised
circle with an "M" in the center. This button can be used to turn the
meter on and off and activate the Memory Recall mode. The Settings button is
the middle of the three control buttons and has a raised square with an
"S" in the center. The Recall button is the left-most control button
and is used to repeat the last spoken message or test result. It has a raised
arrow pointing to the left. The directional buttons are located to the right of
the display and have raised arrows pointing up and down. The directional
buttons are used to select different test results in the Memory Recall mode and
to change settings. The speaker is located below the Repeat and Settings
buttons. An eject slider, located on the top right side panel, ejects test
strips when pushed up. A standard 3.5-millimeter headphone jack on the bottom
left side panel allows you to connect headphones for privacy or a speaker for
amplification. Below the headphone jack is a data port with a rubber cover that
reads "PC" in raised letters. The data port is used with the Fora
software to download test results to a computer. There is also a slot for a
lanyard on the bottom right side panel.

Fora V22
The Fora V22 from Fora Care, Inc., ($80) weighs 1.76 ounces and measures 3.75
by 2.00 by 0.44 inches. The Fora V22 has a 1.2-inch by 1.6-inch circular screen
with the strip eject slider to the left and the rest of the buttons below the
display in a circular layout. In the center, the power button is recessed a
little and labeled with a non-tactile "M." As with the previously
discussed models, the power button on the V22 is also used to access Memory
Recall mode in order to speak previous test results. To the right of the power
button are the Repeat and Settings buttons. The Repeat button is located above
the settings button and is used to repeat the last spoken message or test
result and is labeled with a non-tactile arrow pointing to the left. The
Settings button is located below the Repeat button and is labeled with a
non-tactile "S." To the left of the power button are the directional
buttons, labeled with non-tactile up and down arrows, which are used to select
different test results and settings. The speaker is located directly below the
power button. The Fora V22 features a built-in rechargeable battery. A recessed
LED light centered on the right side of the front panel indicates the charging
status of the meter. If the meter is plugged in and charging, the LED is red;
if the meter is plugged in and finished charging, the LED is green. To the left
of the display is a test-strip eject slider with raised bumps; push the slider
up to eject a used test strip. On the bottom panel, there is a 3.5-millimeter
headphone jack on the right that can be used with headphones for privacy or
speakers for amplification. On the left side of the bottom panel is a mini-USB
data port covered by a rubber flap with a raised lightning bolt symbol and
raised USB symbol. The port is used for charging the battery and downloading
information to a computer using Fora's software. On the right corner there is a
slot for a lanyard.

Solo V2
The Solo V2 from BioSense Medical Devices ($17) weighs 2.2 ounces and measures
3.92 by 2.16 by 0.71 inches. The Solo V2 has a 1.5-inch by 1.9-inch monochrome
black-on-gray display with two buttons below the display and three buttons on
the top of the right side panel. The power button is the left button located
below the display. It is used to turn the meter on and off and to recall
previous test results. It has a non-tactile icon that resembles a calendar. The
repeat button is the right button located below the display. It is used to
repeat the last spoken message or test result and has a non-tactile arrow
pointing left. The buttons below the display are connected in the middle and
are not actually physically separated from each other. The speaker is located
below these buttons. On the top of the right side panel are two directional
buttons and one button for settings. The directional buttons are located at the
very top and have raised arrows pointing up and down. They are used to select
different test results, change settings, and increase or decrease the volume.
The settings button, which is small and circular, is located below the
directional button on the top right side panel. On the bottom of the right side
panel, there is a mini-USB data port used for downloading test results to a
computer using BioSense Medical Devices' software.

Evaluation Methodology
As with our past evaluations of blood glucose meters, we evaluated how easily a
person who is blind or has low vision could perform each task and access each
feature and function of the meters. We evaluated each meter in the following
seven are as:

Obtaining a blood glucose measurement 
Accessing past readings in memory 
Settings 
Software 
Documentation 
Warnings and error messages 
Low Vision Accessibility 
Results
Although all four meters have high-quality recorded human speech that supports
all of their features and functions, there are some differences in overall ease
of use.

Obtaining a Blood Glucose Measurement
The process of obtaining a blood glucose measurement is fully accessible on all
four of these meters, with speech output supporting the process the entire way.
All models:

Speak test results in only 6 or 7 seconds 
Have a repeat button in case you miss something that is spoken 
Alert you if your reading is out of the normal healthy range 
Automatically work with their strips (no need to code the meter for each new
bottle of strips) 
Use strips with capillary action, which pulls your blood sample into the strip,
eliminating the need to place a large hanging drop of blood onto the strip 
Have a tactile notch to indicate where to insert the strip; the strips protrude
enough from the meters so that you don't have to clean the meters after use 
All four meters require a small sample of blood: the Prodigy Voice requires 0.6
microliters and the others require 0.7 microliters. The two Fora meters have a
handy eject button, so you can dispose of used strips without touching them.
All but the Solo V2 have a headphone jack, which is useful for private use or
for attaching speakers to amplify the speech for a person who is hard of
hearing.

Although it can be difficult to quantify how tactually identifiable a control
button is, the buttons on the Prodigy Voice and the Fora V20 are definitely the
easiest to distinguish from one another non-visually. The Solo V2's Memory and
Back buttons are right next to each other and were somewhat difficult to
distinguish from one another. Although the buttons on the Solo V2 for adjusting
the Settings are easy to feel, it does take considerable force to activate
them. Most of the buttons on the Fora V22 are nearly flush with the panel and
so are difficult to feel and activate non-visually. However, even though the
buttons on the Solo V2 and Fora V22 can be somewhat difficult to use, proper
practice should make those meters usable with no problems.

Accessing Past Readings in Memory
The memory functions of the Prodigy Voice and both Fora meters are fully
accessible and supported entirely by speech output. It's easy to scroll through
the individual records to hear the glucose level, time, and date for each
reading. The memory function of the Solo V2 is not quite as fully accessible,
because it will not speak the time of each reading, even though the time is
shown visually on the display screen. All four meters will speak their 7, 14,
21, 28, 60, and 90 day averages, and the Solo V2 can hold 500 readings in
memory while the others can hold 450 readings.

Settings
The process for adjusting the various settings on all of these meters is
accessible, with speech supporting all the steps along the way.

On the Prodigy Voice, you can adjust the volume, date, and time, and you can
choose between mg/dL and mmol/L as the measurement unit. The Prodigy Voice's
settings also allow you to delete your readings from memory. The Fora and Solo
V2 meters include those settings and an additional language setting, and the Solo
V2 also has an alarm setting as well.

Software
All four meters have free software available for transferring results to a PC.
The software creates charts and graphs for monitoring your test history and
prepares reports that you can send to your health care provider so he or she
can track your blood sugar levels over time.

The PC software for the two Fora meters is not compatible with screen reading
technology at all, but parts of the Prodigy Voice and Solo V2 software are
compatible. The Prodigy Voice has more compatible components than the Solo V2.
Although neither allows a screen reader user to access reports of test results,
both can export the reports to accessible spread sheets.

Documentation
The Prodigy Voice, the Solo V2, and the Fora V22 all have manuals available in
an electronic format that is compatible with screen reading software used by
people with vision loss. The electronic manual for the Fora V20, however,
contains several graphics and important instructions that can't be accessed.

Warnings and Error Messages
All four meters speak the warnings and error messages that are occasionally
displayed on their screens. You know that you've inserted a strip incorrectly
when the meters do not speak their instructional messages after insertion. The
Prodigy Voice and Solo V2 also have the added benefit of a "Not enough
blood" warning, which can help people with vision loss avoid false low
test results.

Low Vision Accessibility
All of these meters feature monochromatic displays with large fonts that should
be readable by many people with low vision. The Solo V2 leads the way with very
large, 1- inch tall characters; the Prodigy Voice's display uses 0.63-inch
characters; the characters on both Fora displays are 0.55 inches tall. Contrast
is another strong indicator of readability, and the Prodigy's display leads the
way with a high 83.6% contrast ratio. The Solo V2 has a fairly high contrast
ratio at 73.9%; the Fora meters have a low 53% ratio. Of course, the speech
output on these meters will accommodate a person whose vision is such that he
or she cannot read the display screen.

As far as the visual nature of the other physical characteristics of these
meters, our testers with low vision said that the labels on the buttons are too
small for most people with low vision to read. Also, the button labels on both
monitors are nearly the same color as the buttons themselves, providing no
contrast to accommodate the reader with low vision. Many people with low vision
may need to use tactile methods to identify and use the buttons on these
meters.

The Bottom Line
All four of the meters evaluated in this article are usable by people with
vision loss, but the testers in our AFB Tech labs found the Prodigy Voice to be
the most accessible of the four. Overall, the Prodigy Voice did a bit better
than the others in the seven areas we tested.

Things have certainly improved with blood glucose meter accessibility since we
began tracking it in our AFB Tech labs nearly ten years ago. Back then, meters
all had displays with poor readability, and the only meter with speech output
that used modern technology was a large $500 contraption you had to carry
around in a backpack. Now we have four highly portable meters with
comprehensive speech output from which to choose, and all of them have improved
visual displays. That said, none of these talking meters are among the most
popular in use today; none of the four we tested are among the top selling
meters as listed by Amazon.com. This is an ongoing problem for people who have diabetes
and vision loss, because the most popular meters, such as the Accu-Chek Compact
and the One Touch Ultra 2, are far more likely to be prescribed by physicians
and are also more likely to be covered by insurance carriers. When the leading
BGM manufacturers build accessible meters, more people with vision loss will
have greater access to the proper tools to independently manage their diabetes.

Resources
The Websites we provide in the next section for both the Prodigy Voice and Solo
V2 contain some very useful training resources. Also, AFB's own Center for
Vision Loss has developed the following resources:

Diabetes Basics 
Diabetes and Vision Loss 

The Carroll Center has added a third course on diabetes to its online
offerings. Diabetes and Visual Impairment: A New View for Health Professionals
is currently free, accessible to all who wish to enroll, and various
accrediting agencies provide continuing education credits.

Product Information
Product: Prodigy Voice. 

Prodigy Diabetes Care, LLC
P.O. Box 481928
Charlotte, NC 28269
24/7 Customer Care Center: (800) 243-2636
Sales: (866) 540-4786
Product: Solo V2. 

BioSense Medical Devices
Phone: (877) 592-3922
E-mail: info at biosensemd.com 
6555 Sugarloaf Pkwy, Suite 307-168
Duluth, GA 30097

Product: Fora V20 and Fora V22. 

Fora Care, Inc.
810 Lawrence Drive, Suite 104
Newbury Park, CA 91320 USA
Phone: 1-888-307-8188 or (866) 469-2632
E-mail: service at foracare.com 

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