Case Study: Accessibility-First Redesign for HearWell’s Telehealth Interface

Design · 7 min read

HearWell’s original interface prioritized rich visuals and video-first sessions, which unintentionally sidelined users with hearing loss or low vision. Accessibility complaints were increasing, and appointment no-shows correlated with users who had indicated hearing or sight issues. The design team led an accessibility-first redesign: larger typography, high-contrast themes, caption-first defaults, and simplified call flows with fallback text chats and haptic reminders.

They ran co-design sessions with 24 participants with varied accessibility needs and iterated on prototypes that emphasized readable information hierarchy and non-audio affordances. One notable change was making captions always-on by default during telehealth calls and providing a “transcript highlight” feature that linked recommended actions to specific transcript times. The result was a 19% drop in appointment no-shows among the accessibility cohort and a 28-point lift in post-visit satisfaction for those users.

Operationally, HearWell built accessibility checks into the QA pipeline and added accessibility metrics to product KPIs. Designers also worked with engineering to ensure performance budgets for assistive modes stayed manageable on low-bandwidth connections. The study shows that building for edge cases first often elevates the experience for everyone and reduces long-term support costs.