Hands-Free User Interaction for Accessible Computing

Three experiments were conducted to compare hands-free and hands-on input methods for accessible computing. The first experiment compared hands-free and hands-on text-entry on a smart-phone. EVA Facial Mouse, an Android application, was used for facial tracking for the hands-free phase of the experiment. The second experiment used the Fitts law two-dimensional task in ISO 9241-9 to evaluate hands-free and hands-on point-select tasks on a laptop computer. We used a facial-tracking software called Camera Mouse in combination with dwell-time selection. The third user study compared Camera Mouse with the keyboard and touchpad of a laptop to play a simple yet well known game: Snake. A case study was also conducted with a physically challenged participant for the hands-free phase of the gaming experiment. Our key finding from the three experiments and the case study is that the hands-free methods are not yet as well-performing as the hands-on methods.