PhD Proposal: Designing and Implementing on-Body Interaction for People with Visual Impairments

Talk
Uran Oh
Time: 
11.19.2014 09:00 to 10:30
Location: 

AVW 4172

Touchscreen devices have become ubiquitous. They are present in many devices from portable smartphones to home appliances or even public help kiosks. However, touchscreen-based interfaces are generally not accessible for visually impaired users whether they have low vision or are totally blind. It is difficult or impossible to directly point to specific items without visual feedback from the screen. The smooth surface makes the interaction even more challenging since it provides little tactile feedback compared to physical button-based phones. Furthermore, in a mobile context, hand-held devices present additional accessibility issues when both of the user's hands are not available for interaction (e.g., one hand may be holding a cane or a dog leash).
To improve mobile accessibility for people with visual impairments, I propose using an on-body, interaction technique because it provides always-available access by employing the user's own skin surface as the input/output space. While little work has investigated the accessibility of on-body interaction, it could offer new means of mobile interaction for people with visual impairments. For example, a visually impaired user does not need visual feedback from the screen. By doing eliminating the need to pull out or hold the device, on-body input could free their hand and make interaction more efficient. Furthermore, on-body interaction could provide greater benefits for individuals with visual impairments since they have superior tactile acuity than sighted peers.
To identify users' needs, preferences and capabilities, I conducted three research studies: 1) an exploratory study eliciting on-body gestures from users with and without visual impairments to verify the differences between the two user groups; 2) a more in-depth study to characterize the preference and subjective responses to and design implications for on-body interaction, including a comparison to a touchscreen device regarding different number of available hands; and 3) a controlled lab study comparing user performance in target acquisition and shape drawing tasks using a touchscreen and the user's hand as an input surface. Building on these studies, the remaining dissertation work will focus on the design, implementation, and evaluation of accessible on-body interaction system for visually impaired users. First, I will compare various on-body input sensing approaches and the limitations with respect to sensing/recognition accuracy and user experience. Second, I will re-design and refine existing on-body interaction techniques to support basic mobile tasks (e.g., menu navigation, text entry) using an iterative design process. I will then evaluate the refined interaction prototype by comparing it to a mainstream touchscreen device in a mobile context. This final study will test the overarching thesis of this dissertation: on-body interaction, designed specifically for visually impaired users, can improve mobile computing in terms of efficiency, accuracy, and accessibility; as compared to touchscreen interaction.
Examining Committee:
Committee Chair: Dr. Leah Findlater
Dept's Representative Dr. David Jacobs
Committee Member: Dr. Ben Bederson