Science & Technology, UK (Commonwealth Union) – Gaze-based interactions refer to the use of eye movements to control and navigate digital content on a screen. This technology relies on eye-tracking sensors and algorithms to detect the user’s gaze and translate it into specific actions, such as scrolling, selecting, or typing.
The potential benefits of this technology are numerous. First and foremost, it offers a more intuitive and natural way of interacting with our devices, as it mimics the way we naturally interact with the world around us. It also has the potential to make mobile devices more accessible to people with disabilities or mobility impairments, who may find traditional touch-based interactions difficult or impossible.
Recent research evaluating the way the control of mobile phones by applying eye movement of the users may give insights into its future application.
Human-computer engagement experts from universities in Scotland, Germany and Portugal have made a closer evaluation of how eye movement can control mobile devices making a series of recommendations on the way to integrate gaze-interaction into the future generations of technology.
This was the 1st time researchers have evaluated the way 3 forms of gaze interaction work as the users walk or sit, and the procedures users prefer in both situations. The findings are set to be presented as a paper at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems later in April.
Researchers indicated that the paper may have a significant part in assisting shape the user interactions with future mobile devices, that has a high chance of embracing eye-tracking technology as front-facing cameras become more advanced.
The paper is based on the assessments of 24 study participants’ experiences with the application of various eye-based engagement procedures while seated at a desk followed by walking around a room. The participants applied the procedure to choose specific targets from a grid of white, circular shapes on a mobile phone screen whenever one of the targets transformed from white to black.
While the research was being conducted, participants were requested to choose various numbers of onscreen targets. The numbers of targets consisted between two and thirty-two, and were neutralized between participants to minimize the influence of external factors, like practice or fatigue, on the experimental findings.
For the 3 procedure the participants had the task of applying were Dwell Time, Pursuits and Gaze Gestures. The Dwell Time permitted users to choose items by locking their gaze on a target that was 800 milliseconds. In Pursuits, the users tracked a small object going around the target to choose it. Gaze Gestures applied multi-stage procedures where users took their eyes off-screen either to the left or right restricting the number of targets until they come to a point where they have, what they want to choose, as indicated by researchers.
It was observed in the study that, when seated, the participants have a preference for Pursuits. That procedure was also quicker, where on average, time taken was 1.36 seconds for users in choosing a target, contrasted to 2.33 seconds with Dwell as well as 5.17 seconds applying Gaze Gestures.
While moving, the users had a preference for Dwell Time. With an average of 2.76 seconds, it was a bit less than Pursuits at 2.14 seconds however quicker than Gaze Gestures for 6.68 seconds.
Dr Mohamed Khamis, from the University of Glasgow, School of Computing Science, supervised the study and the co-author of the paper says “Eye tracking has been well-studied in recent years across a range of user environments, but most of those where either the user, the camera, or both are stationary.”
“As smartphone camera technology has advanced, it’s become much more practical for eye-tracking to be implemented in those devices despite the challenges of both the device and the user moving at the same time.
