FocusView: Understanding and Customizing Informational Video Watching Experiences for Viewers with ADHD

TL;DR

This work addresses ADHD-related distractions in informational videos by introducing FocusView, an AI-powered interface that enables users to customize four video channels—layout, background, captions, and audio—to reduce distractions. Built on a formative study of ADHD-relevant video content, FocusView leverages state-of-the-art computer vision and audio processing to segment videos into multimodal elements and support targeted edits, including dynamic caption tracking and preset-driven customization. In a two-hour study with 12 ADHD participants, FocusView significantly improved perceived viewability (mean 6.17/7) and was rated easy to use, with rich qualitative insights on user preferences and long-video strategies. The work contributes a first empirical exploration of ADHD-focused video customization, derives practical design implications, and highlights considerations for AI-based interventions, including cognitive-load balance, ethical safeguards, and real-world deployment challenges.

Abstract

While videos have become increasingly prevalent in delivering information across different educational and professional contexts, individuals with ADHD often face attention challenges when watching informational videos due to the dynamic, multimodal, yet potentially distracting video elements. To understand and address this critical challenge, we designed FocusView, a video customization interface that allows viewers with ADHD to customize informational videos from different aspects. We evaluated FocusView with 12 participants with ADHD and found that FocusView significantly improved the viewability of videos by reducing distractions. Through the study, we uncovered participants' diverse perceptions of video distractions (e.g., background music as a distraction vs. stimulation boost) and their customization preferences, highlighting unique ADHD-relevant needs in designing video customization interfaces (e.g., reducing the number of options to avoid distraction caused by customization itself). We further derived design considerations for future video customization systems for the ADHD community.

Figures (11)

• Figure 1: Illustration of video elements for two videos: speaker, content (i.e., visual elements illustrating the content being discussed, including presentation screens and graphical illustrations), auxiliary information (i.e., visual elements conveying information but not illustrating the video content), caption, and audio.
• Figure 2: Layout Customization Options: (A) Original; (B) Speaker Focus; (C) Content Focus; (D) Auxiliary Removal.
• Figure 3: Background Customization: (A) Original; (B) Blur; (C) Remove (white); (D) Remove (dark); Remove (peach).
• Figure 4: FocusView Caption Customization Features: (A1-A4) Color options; (B) Bionic reading font style; (C1-C3) Size options: small, medium, large; (D) Dynamic Caption Tracking; (E1-E2): Position options: top, bottom.
• Figure 5: The interface design of FocusView, with the video player (A) on the left and the customization features (B-E) on the right. To prevent getting overwhelmed by too many options for users with ADHD kolberg2020makingchoices, the four customization features were placed within a React accordion component to only show one feature at a time.