Sustaining Motivation and Re-engagement Through Accessibility: A Multi-Phase Study of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Players in Mixed Reality Exergames

Recent trends in mixed reality (MR) exergames offer new opportunities for home-based, visually driven physical activity, but require accessible designs. For example, many conventional fitness systems often depend on spoken instruction and audio cues, limiting accessibility for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) people. Accessibility and user experience for DHH users are often treated as static, assessed at a single point in time. This framing overlooks how accessibility features may shape their experience, effort, and motivation differently as familiarity develops. Our research, therefore, investigates how DHH users’ motivation and engagement evolve in MR exergames across multiple sessions and how accessibility needs shift with familiarity. We conducted a three-phase exploratory study comprising a 10-day in-home user study utilizing ARWell PRO , design workshops, and feedback on visual mockup sessions. Our findings show that early-use features (e.g., captions and detailed visual guidance) can become effortful over time due to visual load, while efficiency-oriented features may inadequately support newcomers. Repeated engagement revealed trade-offs between guidance, autonomy, and cognitive effort, positioning accessibility as an evolving rather than static property. We further propose design directions and open research questions around adaptive instruction, modality choice, visual expressiveness, customization effort, and clarity versus discovery.