Resources

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SuperGLUE Posters

Designing Tests for Success

Hands On

Human Factors 101

Instructional Design

Usability Insights

Reading the Room

Publications & Best Practices

Don’t forget about human factors: Lessons learned from COVID-19 point-of-care testing


HomeLab's Quick Reference Instruction (QRI) Best Practices Checklist

 

U.S. Access Board - Best Practices for the Design of Accessible COVID-19 Home Tests

 

Additional Resources

U.S. FDA: Applying Human Factors and Usability Engineering to Medical Devices
 

WebAIM Contrast Checker
 

Colorblind Sim: a color blindness simulator app
 

Example of Good QRI

 

Our Services

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The HomeLab team conducts a wide variety of evaluations and assessments on technologies at various stages. From initial concept design and prototypes to devices on the market or live software, HomeLab can provide you with an independent evaluation to clearly differentiate your product in a crowded or emerging market. Our human factors expertise offers clear guidance and support in how and why to increase your product’s usability and accessibility.

HomeLab can assist in:

  • Assessing product safety, efficacy, effectiveness, usability, and accessibility
  • Informing concept development and improving product design
  • Providing documented evidence for marketing or regulatory compliance needs
  • Conducting ethnographic research

HomeLab offerings are tailored to fit a project’s specific needs. Some of our available evaluation services include but are not limited to:

  • Human factors expert internal evaluation
  • User testing and feedback
  • Focus groups
  • Requirements definition 
  • Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (DFMEA)
  • Simulations for accessibility
  • Consumer needs analysis

If you are interested in testing your product or learning more about working with HomeLab, please visit our Contact Us page here.

Frequently Asked Questions

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General FAQs

What is HomeLab?

HomeLab is a research and innovation organization dedicated to advancing the application of emerging technologies in service to enabling people with functional limitations and supporting an aging workforce. Our work sits at the intersection of technology development, workforce policy, and disability inclusion.

HomeLab resides within Georgia Tech’s Center for Advanced Communications Policy (CACP) and is run by Georgia Tech research faculty with support from graduate student researchers.

 

What kind of research does HomeLab conduct?

Our team has created a honed set of methods, tools, and apparatus to collect objective scientific data pertaining to the usability and accessibility of products and services for both home and point-of-care use, addressing challenges at the intersection of policy, technology, and design. This research improves the usability and accessibility of products for all end users. HomeLab is staffed by a diverse roster of experts including those with expertise in human factors, experimental design, behavioral psychology, industrial design, data analysis, engineering, and project management. 

 

What is “Human Factors”?

The field of Human factors and ergonomics (HF/E) applies knowledge of people’s abilities and limitations to the design of products, environments, and work. The field aims to reduce errors, improve productivity, and enhance safety, comfort, and satisfaction. HF/E is interdisciplinary, drawing from psychology, engineering, biomechanics, design, physiology, and more. 

You can find more information about The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society here.

Where is HomeLab located?

HomeLab itself is based at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA. Projects may take place at our on-campus lab location, at other in-person locations, or virtually.

Where can I learn more about being involved in HomeLab’s research?

Visit our Participate in Research page here.

 

Participant FAQs

Who can participate in HomeLab’s research studies?

Anyone over 18 may be eligible to participate, however each study has custom eligibility criteria. Some studies are open to all types of people, while others may be specific to certain groups and demographics, such as older adults. HomeLab matches eligible individuals to study opportunities.

How do I sign up to be a HomeLab research participant?

To participate in our research, please fill out our HomeLab Opportunity Interest Form.

Do participants receive compensation?

Most studies provide compensation, which may include gift cards or financial payments; however, this is highly variable between studies. 

How long do studies usually last?

Study time is highly variable. While in-person sessions may last 1–2 hours, online studies might be shorter. Other studies may involve ongoing technology use in a participant's home. Study descriptions will include time estimates.

Can I participate in more than one study?

Yes, if you meet the eligibility requirements for each study.

 

 

State of Stakeholder Opinion on the Federal Communication Commission's Broadband Transparency Inquiry

In January of 2022, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) [CG Docket No. 22-2] on broadband transparency. Although the Commission sought comments on a range of matters relating to improved transparency for broadband consumers, the focal conversation of this NPRM sought to understand whether it was appropriate to mandate modifications, or other general changes, to broadband label content and format.

Sound Science and Engineering (SSE)

Speakers, hands holding electrical probes, a microphone

 

About

Sound Science and Engineering is a grassroots Georgia Tech initiative with faculty members, students and other researchers from a wide range of disciplines, departments and institutes. From the technology of music to early detection of earthquakes, SSE promotes the integration of research, education, training and outreach in sound and acoustics.

The Sound Lab

The Sound Lab is a student-led make-and-measure space at Georgia Tech. Like Invention Studio, The Materials Innovation Learning Laboratory, The HIVE, Aero Studio and the Open Polymer Active Learning Laboratory, fully engaged students from any major enjoy 24/7 access to great equipment. Others with a GT affiliation, from high school intern to visiting professor, also may access the facilities and engage in any of the activities. Sound Lab supports a culture of learning, discovery, education and outreach in the science and engineering of acoustics, from music generation to sonification (assigning sounds to other physical phenomena). Students can learn and hone their skills in leadership, management, and measurement of sound and other acoustic phenomena. Members design new materials, explore sonochemistry, develop advanced electronics, perfect the art of noise cancellation, build advanced sensors and transducers, improve the quality of human-computer interaction, and study human perception of sound through artificial intelligence algorithms. Sound Lab also promotes the understanding of the social implications of sound.

Training Program

Georgia Tech possesses a deep pedagogical capacity regarding issues of sound studies covering a wide array of disciplines.  There is unmatched potential across the 20+ researchers in our eleven academic and supporting units.

Associated GT Research Units

Schools of: 
•    Chemistry
•    Materials Science & Engineering
•    Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
•    Electrical & Computer Engineering
•    Interactive Computing
•    Psychology
•    Environmental Sciences
•    Civil Engineering
•    Public Policy 
•    Institute for People and Technology
•    Center for the Development and Application of Internet of Things Technologies

Contact Information

For further information, contact: 
Gil Weinberg 
Email: gilw@gatech.edu

Participate in Research

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HomeLab conducts research pertaining to individuals of all ages, locations, and backgrounds. By taking part in HomeLab as a research participant, you can help researchers answer important questions about usability, accessibility, and user experience. Our goal is to learn from you.

Participants have the opportunity to partake in research conducted in variety of settings including their own homes, at our on-campus lab at Georgia Tech, over the phone, or online.

Whether it is an over-the-counter diagnostic test or a cutting-edge technological device for in-home use, HomeLab research participants provide feedback that influences actual product design to better meet the needs of intended users. Some of the ways participants partake in research include:

  • Product evaluation (at Georgia Tech or in a user’s home)
  • In-home product testing (e.g. device installation for short- or long-term use)
  • Surveys (online or by phone)

Study participants are compensated for their time and effort. Compensation varies by study.

If you are interested in becoming a HomeLab research participant, please contact us at homelab@cacp.gatech.edu. 

Georgia Tech HomeLab: For Clients

HomeLab logo above images of happy senior citizens

Home About Us Projects Publications For Clients For Participants Contact Us

 

Client Overview

HomeLab can provide you with an independent evaluation to clearly differentiate your product in a crowded or emerging market.  We offer a variety of services to our clients, ranging from initial concept design to user testing and document preparation. Many of these services can be tailored to meet specific needs.

HomeLab can assist in:

  • Assessing product safety, efficacy, effectiveness, usability, and accessibility
  • Providing documented evidence for marketing or regulatory compliance needs
  • Informing concept development and improving product design
  • Conducting ethnographic research

The HomeLab team can also assist with all of the support activities necessary for research, including obtaining Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval; managing participant recruitment, scheduling, and compensation; managing and analyzing research data; and preparing study documentation.

If you would like to test a product in HomeLab or would like more information about our capabilities, please reach out to us with the information on the "Contact Us" page.

Publications

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2026

Improving Emergency Response: A Qualitative Needs Assessment Involving People With Disabilities and First Responders

Gleaton, E., Farmer, S., & Baker, P. M. A. (2026). Improving Emergency Response: A Qualitative Needs Assessment Involving People With Disabilities and First Responders. Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 68(6), 693-707. 

2025 

Exploring longitudinal affect on adoption of persuasive wearables in older adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Parcell, E., Erickson, J., Gleaton, E., Kim, D. E., & Fain, B. (2025). Exploring longitudinal affect on adoption of persuasive wearables in older adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment. In Q. Gao, & J. Zhou (Eds.) Human aspects of IT for the aged population (pp.199-217). Springer. 

 

2024

Social Media Gerontology: Understanding Social Media Usage Among Older Adults. 

Gleaton, E., Parcell, E., Erickson, J., & Fain, B. (2024). Exploring longitudinal physiological monitoring: Insights from utilizing a commercial wearable device among older adults with mild cognitive impairment. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) 68th International Annual Meeting, 68(1). 

 

2023

The critical role of engineering in the rapid development of COVID-19 diagnostics: Lessons from the RADx Tech Test Verification Core

Manino, R., Nehl, E., Farmer, S., Peagler, A. F., Parsell, M., Claveria, V., Gottfried, D., Chen, H., Brand, O., and Lam, W. (2023). The Critical Role of Engineering Assessments in the Rapid Development of COVID-19 Diagnostics: Lessons from the RADx Tech Test Verification Core, Science Advances, 9(14), 1-9. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.ade4962 

 

2022

Personas, the Pandemic, and Inclusive, Synthetic, Smart City Planning

Farmer, S., Bricout, J. C., Baker, P. M., & Solomon, J. (2022). Personas, the Pandemic, and Inclusive, Synthetic, Smart City Planning. International Journal of E-Planning Research (IJEPR), 11(1), 1-15. doi:10.4018/IJEPR.299545 

 

Pivoting an MCI Empowerment Program to Online Engagement

Elizabeth D. Mynatt, Kayci Vickers, Salimah LaForce, Sarah K. Farmer, Jeremy M. Johnson, Matthew Doiron, Aparna Ramesh, Walter Bradley Fain, Tamara Zubatiy, and Amy D. Rodriguez. 2022. Pivoting an MCI Empowerment Program to Online Engagement. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 6, GROUP, Article 32 (January 2022), 26 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3492851

 

Concordance of SARS-CoV-2 Results in Self-collected Nasal Swabs vs Swabs Collected by Health Care Workers in Children and Adolescents: 

Waggoner, J. J., Vos, M. B., Tyburski, E. A., Nguyen, P.-V., Ingersoll, J. M., Miller, C., Sullivan, J., Griffiths, M., Stone, C., Benoit, M., Benedit, L., Seitter, B., Jerris, R., Levy, J. M., Kraft, C. S., Farmer, S., Peagler, A., Wood, A., Westbrook, A. L., Morris, C. R., Sathian, U. N., Heetderks, W., Li, L., Roth, K., Barcus, M., Stenzel, T., Martin, G. S., and Lam, W. A. (2022). Concordance of SARS-CoV-2 Results in Self-collected Nasal Swabs vs Swabs Collected by Health Care Workers in Children and Adolescents. JAMA, 328(10), 935-940. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.14877

 

Don’t forget about human factors: Lessons learned from COVID-19 point-of-care testing

Farmer, S., Razin, V., Peagler, A. F., Strickler, S., Fain, W. B., Damhorst, G. L., Kempker, R. R., Pollock, N. R., Brand, O., Seitter, B., Heilman, S. S., Nehl, E. J., Levy, J. M., Gottfried, D. S., Martin, G. S., Greenleaf, M., Ku, D. N., Waggoner, J. J., Iffrig, E., Mannino, R. G., Wang, Y. F., Ortlund, E., Sullivan, J. Rebolledo, P. A., Clavería, V., Roback, J. D., Benoit, M., Stone, C., Esper, A., Frank, F., Lam, W. A. (2022). Don’t forget about human factors: Lessons learned from COVID-19 point-of-care testing. Cell Reports Methods 2(5). doi:10.1016/j.crmeth.2022.100222.

 

2021

The RADx tech test verification core and the ACME POCT in the evaluation of COVID-19 testing devices: A model for progress and change. 

Nehl, E. J., Heilman, S. S., Ku, D., Gottfried, D. S., Farmer, S., Mannino, R., Tyburski, E., Sullivan, J., Suesssmith, A., Bassit, L., Figueroa, J., Wood, A., Leong, T., Rao, A., Rogers, B., Jerris, R., Park, S., Gonzalez, M. D., Frediani, J., Morris, C. R., Levy, J. M., Schoof, N., Mavigner, M., Roback, J. D., Herzegh, K., Saakadze, N., Ingersoll, J., Cheerdaral, N., Neish, A., Hanberry, B., Porter, C. C., Esper, A. M., Kempker, R. R., Rebolledo, P. A., McGuinnes, P. D., Balagadde, F., Gore, R., Koren, A., Pollock, N., Rogers, E. J., Simin, K., Hafer, N. S., Picard, M. A., Ghezzi, C. E., McManus, D. D., Buchholz, B. O., Rostad, C. A., Claveria, V., Ramachandra, T., Wang, Y. F., Washington, C., Stone, C., Griffiths, M., Schinazi, R., Chahroudi, A., Vos, M. B., Brand, O., Martin, G. S., Lam, W. A. (2021). The RADx tech test verification core and the ACME POCT in the evaluation of COVID-19 testing devices: A model for progress and change. IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology, 2, 142-151. doi: 10.1109/OJEMB.2021.3070825. 

 

The need for new test verification and regulatory support for innovative diagnostics. 

Roback, J. D., Tyburski, E. A., Alter, D., Asakrah, S., Chahroudi, A., Esper, A., Farmer, S., Figueroa, J., Frediani, J. K., Gonzalez, M. D., Gottfried, D. S., Guarner, J., Gupta, N. A., Heilman, S. S., Hill, C. E., Jerris, R., Kempker, R. R., Ingersoll, J., Levy, J. M., Mavigner, M., Moreno, C. S., Morris, C. R., Nehl, E. J., Neish, A. S., Peker, D., Saakadze, N., Rebolledo, P. A., Rostad, C. A., Schoof, N., Suessmith, A., Sullivan, J., Wang, Y. F. W., Wood, A., Vos, M. B., Brand, O., Martin, G. S., Lam, W. A. (2021). The need for new test verification and regulatory support for innovative diagnostics. Nature Biotechnology, 39(9), 1060-1062. doi:10.1038/s41587-021-01047-7. 

 

Multidisciplinary assessment of the Abbott BinaxNOW SARS-CoV-2 point-of-care antigen test in the context of emerging viral variants and self-administration. 

Frediani, J. K., Levy, J. M., Rao, A., Bassit, L., Figueroa, J., Vos, M. B., Wood, A., Jerris, R., Leung-Pineda, V., Gonzalez, M. D., Rogers,B. B., Mavigner, M., Schinazi, R. F., Schoof, N., Waggoner, J. J., Kempker, R. R., Rebolledo, P. A., O’Neal, J. W., Stone, C., Chahroudi, A., Morris, C. R., Suessmith, A., Sullivan, J., Farmer, S., Foster, A., Roback, J. D., Ramachandra, T., Washington, C., Le, K., Cordero, M. C., Esper, A., Nehl, E. J., Wang, Y. F., Tyburski, E. A., Martin, G. S., Lam, W. A. (2021). Multidisciplinary assessment of the Abbott BinaxNOW SARS-CoV-2 point-of-care antigen test in the context of emerging viral variants and self-administration. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 14604. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-94055-1 
 

2017

Medication Adherence Facilitators and Barriers for Older Adults with Disabilities

Fain, W. B., Farmer, S., Owens, S., Fausset, C., & Foster, A. (2017). MEDICATION ADHERENCE FACILITATORS AND BARRIERS FOR OLDER ADULTS WITH DISABILITIES. Innovation in Aging, 1(Suppl 1), 14.

 

Addressing Medication Adherence Technology Needs in an Aging Population

Jessica Pater, Shane Owens, Sarah Farmer, Elizabeth Mynatt, and Brad Fain. 2017. Addressing medication adherence technology needs in an aging population. In Proceedings of the 11th EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare (PervasiveHealth '17). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 58–67. https://doi.org/10.1145/3154862.3154872
 

2016

Designing Usable Voting Systems for Voters with Hidden Barriers: A Pilot Study

Harley, L., Kline, K., Bell, C., Baranak, A., Michelson, S., Farmer, S. & Fain, B. (2016). Designing Usable Voting Systems for Voters with Hidden Barriers: A Pilot Study, International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 32(2), 103-118, DOI: 10.1080/10447318.2015.1116759 

 

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