Change Blindness

Change blindness is a perceptual phenomenon in which observers fail to notice changes to a visual scene when the change coincides with a visual disruption such as an eye movement, blink, or brief occlusion. In accessibility contexts, change blindness is particularly relevant for deaf and hard of hearing users who must focus their visual attention on one information source (such as an interpreter or captions) and may miss changes occurring elsewhere on screen, such as slide transitions or new speakers. It also affects screen reader users and people with low vision who cannot monitor an entire visual display simultaneously. Interface design strategies to mitigate change blindness include visual notifications, animations, and other cues that draw attention to important changes.