Improving accuracy of gaze‐control tools: Design recommendations for optimum position, sizes, and spacing of interactive objects

Abstract

To investigate a suitable design of interactive objects in the fixation-triggered eyecontrol interface, this study conducted two ergonomic experiments based on the location of an object, area of the object, and distance between adjacent objects. Experiment 1 investigated the priority distribution of different regions and recommended values of object sizes in different regions. The results showed that middle-middle (MM) area is the optimal area, while middle-left (ML) area, middleright (MR) area, and upper-left (UL) area are suboptimal areas, and the remaining are general areas. The recommended minimum sizes for the optimal area, suboptimal area, and general area are 2.636°(200 px on the screen of a 1920 px × 1080 px 14 inch monitor), 2.978°(225 px on the screen of a 1920 px × 1080 px 14 inch monitor) and 3.322°(250 px on the screen of a 1920 px × 1080 px 14-inch monitor), respectively. Experiment 2 conducted ergonomic experiments of different distances between adjacent objects in horizontal and vertical distributions.The results showed that the appropriate setting of the distribution and size of the objects showed no significant difference between different levels of spacing on the trigger accuracy rate and task completion time. Further, 1.032°(75 px on the screen of a 1920 px × 1080 px 14-inch monitor) could be recommended as the most suitable spacing. According to the conclusions of Experiments 1 and 2, an optimized eye-control interface and the NASA-TLX scale were used to verify the validity and scientificity of the experimental results. The conclusions can be employed to improve the interaction efficiency of the eye-control system and user experience and expand the application field of eye control.

Enhancing User Experience of Eye-Controlled Systems: Design Recommendations on the Optimal Size, Distance and Shape of Interactive Components from the Perspective of Peripheral Vision

“…Objects in peripheral vision become difficult to recognize when they are in close proximity to other objects [ 73 , 74 ], so it is important to design eye-controlled GUI components at an appropriate distance from each other. We identified this problem in our previous study and provided relevant design recommendations [ 68 ].…”

“… Multiple interface components influence each other when they are in close proximity, so they need to be spaced appropriately from each other. According to our previous study [ 68 ], 1.032° is a suitable spacing value. For eye-controlled modalities that require saccades to complete triggering (e.g., eye-gesture interaction), the distance factor has less impact on the performance of eye-controlled triggering when performing saccades within 12°.…”

“…Multiple interface components influence each other when they are in close proximity, so they need to be spaced appropriately from each other. According to our previous study [ 68 ], 1.032° is a suitable spacing value.…”

“…Icon size: Niu et al studied the trigger accuracy and task completion time of visual search tasks in an eye-controlled interface with a grid interface layout [ 68 ]. They proposed a recommended size of 200 px (viewing angle of 2.889°) for the control.…”

Gaze behavior in single-page monomodal and cross-modal switches as affected by Event construal

“…In recent years, eye-tracking research in cross-modal (for instance, in text and image) and monomodal switches has become an integral component of usability multimedia and VR studies. Gaze costs are explored as contingent on 1) foregrounding effects in pictorial modality [8,33] or language modality [2,8,14,30], 2) spatial effects in bimodal systems [18,23,25], 3) types of tasks performed [4,12,24], 4) several cognitive foregrounding effects, for instance dynamicity and agentivity [28,35], 5) cross-modal information mapping [1,30,37]. Although prognostic computing has made significant progress, there are still challenges for assessing gaze effects in monomodal and bimodal systems as affected by systemic event construal.…”