Multimodal 'eyes-free' interaction techniques for wearable devices

Brewster, S.A., Lumsden, J., Bell, M., Hall, M. and Tasker, S. (2003) Multimodal 'eyes-free' interaction techniques for wearable devices. In: SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, 5-10 April 2003, pp. 473-480. ISBN 1581136307 (doi: 10.1145/642611.642694)

Abstract

Mobile and wearable computers present input/output prob-lems due to limited screen space and interaction techniques. When mobile, users typically focus their visual attention on navigating their environment - making visually demanding interface designs hard to operate. This paper presents two multimodal interaction techniques designed to overcome these problems and allow truly mobile, 'eyes-free' device use. The first is a 3D audio radial pie menu that uses head gestures for selecting items. An evaluation of a range of different audio designs showed that egocentric sounds re-duced task completion time, perceived annoyance, and al-lowed users to walk closer to their preferred walking speed. The second is a sonically enhanced 2D gesture recognition system for use on a belt-mounted PDA. An evaluation of the system with and without audio feedback showed users' ges-tures were more accurate when dynamically guided by au-dio-feedback. These novel interaction techniques demon-strate effective alternatives to visual-centric interface de-signs on mobile devices.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Additional Information: This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution.
• Keywords: gestural interaction, wearable computing
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Bell, Dr Marek and Brewster, Professor Stephen and Hall, Dr Malcolm
• Authors: Brewster, S.A., Lumsden, J., Bell, M., Hall, M., and Tasker, S.
• Subjects: Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science; Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Computer software
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
• Publisher: ACM Press
• ISBN: 1581136307
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2003 ACM Press
• First Published: First published in Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher