research-article

Distal tactile feedback for text entry on tabletop computers

Authors:

Christopher McAdam,

Stephen BrewsterAuthors Info & Claims

BCS-HCI '09: Proceedings of the 23rd British HCI Group Annual Conference on People and Computers: Celebrating People and Technology

Pages 504 - 511

Published: 01 September 2009 Publication History

Abstract

In this paper we present an initial study into the feasibility of using a mobile phone as a personal tactile display when interacting with a tabletop computer. There has been an increase in recent years in large touchscreen computers that use soft keyboards for text input. Text entry performance on such keyboards can be poor due to the lack of tactile feedback from the keys. Our approach is to use the vibration motor in a user's mobile phone to provide personal haptic feedback for interactions with the touchscreen computer. We ran an experiment to compare text entry on a touchscreen device with the tactile feedback being presented at different distal locations on the body (locations at which a user might keep a mobile device. The conditions were: no tactile feedback, feedback directly on the device, feedback at the wrist, upper arm, chest, belt and trouser pocket). The results showed that distal tactile feedback significantly increased text entry rates when presented to the wrist and upper arm. This was not at the expense of a reduction in text entry accuracy. This shows that the concept of presenting tactile feedback on a user's phone is an effective one and can improve interaction and text entry on tabletop computers.

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Cited By

Terenti MCasado-Palacios MGori MVatavu R(2024)What Is the User Experience of Eyes-Free Touch Input with Vibrotactile Feedback Decoupled from the Touchscreen?Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3650804(1-8)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3650804
Terenti MPamparău CVatavu R(2024)The user experience of distal arm-level vibrotactile feedback for interactions with virtual versus physical displaysVirtual Reality10.1007/s10055-024-00977-228:2Online publication date: 22-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10055-024-00977-2
Chau EYu JGoncu CWithana A(2021)Composite Line Designs and Accuracy Measurements for Tactile Line Tracing on Touch SurfacesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/34885365:ISS(1-17)Online publication date: 5-Nov-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3488536
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Index Terms

Distal tactile feedback for text entry on tabletop computers
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)

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cover image ACM Other conferences

BCS-HCI '09: Proceedings of the 23rd British HCI Group Annual Conference on People and Computers: Celebrating People and Technology

September 2009

532 pages

Sponsors

British Computer Society: BCS

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SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

Publisher

BCS Learning & Development Ltd.

Swindon, United Kingdom

Publication History

Published: 01 September 2009

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BCS HCI '09

Sponsor:

British Computer Society

BCS HCI '09: British Computer Society Conference on Human-Computer Interaction

September 1 - 5, 2009

Cambridge, United Kingdom

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Overall Acceptance Rate 28 of 62 submissions, 45%

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Cited By

Terenti MCasado-Palacios MGori MVatavu R(2024)What Is the User Experience of Eyes-Free Touch Input with Vibrotactile Feedback Decoupled from the Touchscreen?Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3650804(1-8)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3650804
Terenti MPamparău CVatavu R(2024)The user experience of distal arm-level vibrotactile feedback for interactions with virtual versus physical displaysVirtual Reality10.1007/s10055-024-00977-228:2Online publication date: 22-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10055-024-00977-2
Chau EYu JGoncu CWithana A(2021)Composite Line Designs and Accuracy Measurements for Tactile Line Tracing on Touch SurfacesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/34885365:ISS(1-17)Online publication date: 5-Nov-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3488536
Vo DBrewster S(2020)Investigating the effect of tactile input and output locations for drivers’ hands on in-car tasks performance12th International Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications10.1145/3409120.3410656(1-8)Online publication date: 21-Sep-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3409120.3410656
Henderson JAvery JGrisoni LLank EBrewster SFitzpatrick GCox AKostakos V(2019)Leveraging Distal Vibrotactile Feedback for Target AcquisitionProceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3290605.3300715(1-11)Online publication date: 2-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3290605.3300715
Choi DCho HCheong JLatulipe CHartmann BGrossman T(2015)Improving Virtual Keyboards When All Finger Positions Are KnownProceedings of the 28th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software & Technology10.1145/2807442.2807491(529-538)Online publication date: 5-Nov-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2807442.2807491
Roudaki AKong JWalia GHuang Z(2014)A framework for bimanual inter-device interactionsJournal of Visual Languages and Computing10.1016/j.jvlc.2014.10.00225:6(727-737)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.jvlc.2014.10.002
Kim SSon JLee GKim HLee WMackay WBrewster SBødker S(2013)TapBoardProceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/2470654.2470733(553-562)Online publication date: 27-Apr-2013
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2470654.2470733
Seifert JPackeiser MRukzio E(2013)Adding Vibrotactile Feedback to Large Interactive Surfaces14th IFIP TC 13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction --- INTERACT 2013 - Volume 812010.1007/978-3-642-40498-6_39(507-514)Online publication date: 2-Sep-2013
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-642-40498-6_39
Richter HHausen DOsterwald SButz AMorency LBohus DAghajan HCassell JNijholt AEpps J(2012)Reproducing materials of virtual elements on touchscreens using supplemental thermal feedbackProceedings of the 14th ACM international conference on Multimodal interaction10.1145/2388676.2388765(385-392)Online publication date: 22-Oct-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2388676.2388765
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