Improving users’ comprehension of changes with animation and sound: an empirical assessment

Animation or sound is often used in user interfaces as an attempt to improve users' perception and comprehension of evolving situations and support them in decision-making. However, empirical data establishing their real effectiveness on the comprehension of changes are still lacking. We have carried out an experiment using four combinations of visual and auditory feedback in a split attention task. The results not only confirm that such feedback improves the perception of changes, but they also demonstrate that animation and sound used alone or combined bring major improvements on the comprehension of a changing situation. Based on these results, we propose design guidelines about the most efficient combinations to be used in user interfaces

Novel Multimodal Feedback Techniques for In-Car Mid-Air Gesture Interaction

This paper presents an investigation into the effects of different feedback modalities on mid-air gesture interaction for infotainment systems in cars. Car crashes and near-crash events are most commonly caused by driver distraction. Mid-air interaction is a way of reducing driver distraction by reducing visual demand from infotainment. Despite a range of available modalities, feedback in mid-air gesture systems is generally provided through visual displays. We conducted a simulated driving study to investigate how different types of multimodal feedback can support in-air gestures. The effects of different feedback modalities on eye gaze behaviour, and the driving and gesturing tasks are considered. We found that feedback modality influenced gesturing behaviour. However, drivers corrected falsely executed gestures more often in non-visual conditions. Our findings show that non-visual feedback can reduce visual distraction significantl

Optimizing The Design Of Multimodal User Interfaces

Due to a current lack of principle-driven multimodal user interface design guidelines, designers may encounter difficulties when choosing the most appropriate display modality for given users or specific tasks (e.g., verbal versus spatial tasks). The development of multimodal display guidelines from both a user and task domain perspective is thus critical to the achievement of successful human-system interaction. Specifically, there is a need to determine how to design task information presentation (e.g., via which modalities) to capitalize on an individual operator\u27s information processing capabilities and the inherent efficiencies associated with redundant sensory information, thereby alleviating information overload. The present effort addresses this issue by proposing a theoretical framework (Architecture for Multi-Modal Optimization, AMMO) from which multimodal display design guidelines and adaptive automation strategies may be derived. The foundation of the proposed framework is based on extending, at a functional working memory (WM) level, existing information processing theories and models with the latest findings in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and other allied sciences. The utility of AMMO lies in its ability to provide designers with strategies for directing system design, as well as dynamic adaptation strategies (i.e., multimodal mitigation strategies) in support of real-time operations. In an effort to validate specific components of AMMO, a subset of AMMO-derived multimodal design guidelines was evaluated with a simulated weapons control system multitasking environment. The results of this study demonstrated significant performance improvements in user response time and accuracy when multimodal display cues were used (i.e., auditory and tactile, individually and in combination) to augment the visual display of information, thereby distributing human information processing resources across multiple sensory and WM resources. These results provide initial empirical support for validation of the overall AMMO model and a sub-set of the principle-driven multimodal design guidelines derived from it. The empirically-validated multimodal design guidelines may be applicable to a wide range of information-intensive computer-based multitasking environments

From Manual Driving to Automated Driving: A Review of 10 Years of AutoUI

This paper gives an overview of the ten-year devel- opment of the papers presented at the International ACM Conference on Automotive User Interfaces and Interactive Vehicular Applications (AutoUI) from 2009 to 2018. We categorize the topics into two main groups, namely, manual driving-related research and automated driving-related re- search. Within manual driving, we mainly focus on studies on user interfaces (UIs), driver states, augmented reality and head-up displays, and methodology; Within automated driv- ing, we discuss topics, such as takeover, acceptance and trust, interacting with road users, UIs, and methodology. We also discuss the main challenges and future directions for AutoUI and offer a roadmap for the research in this area.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153959/1/From Manual Driving to Automated Driving: A Review of 10 Years of AutoUI.pdfDescription of From Manual Driving to Automated Driving: A Review of 10 Years of AutoUI.pdf : Main articl

Human Bandwidth

This project examines the effects of including multimodal output in menu-based systems. In the course of the project, the principles of multimodal interaction were examined. Based on these principles, an experiment involving a user\u27s ability to retrieve data from a scrolling menu-based system. The experiment was intended to determine if the addition of sound and/or motion would improve a user\u27s ability to retrieve information in a timely and accurate manner. The experiment suggests that the addition of movement improved a user\u27s ability to retrieve information, while the inclusion of sound had no significant benefit

May the Force Be with You: Ultrasound Haptic Feedback for Mid-Air Gesture Interaction in Cars

The use of ultrasound haptic feedback for mid-air gestures in cars has been proposed to provide a sense of control over the user's intended actions and to add touch to a touchless interaction. However, the impact of ultrasound feedback to the gesturing hand regarding lane deviation, eyes-off-the-road time (EORT) and perceived mental demand has not yet been measured. This paper investigates the impact of uni- and multimodal presentation of ultrasound feedback on the primary driving task and the secondary gesturing task in a simulated driving environment. The multimodal combinations of ultrasound included visual, auditory, and peripheral lights. We found that ultrasound feedback presented uni-modally and bi-modally resulted in significantly less EORT compared to visual feedback. Our results suggest that multimodal ultrasound feedback for mid-air interaction decreases EORT whilst not compromising driving performance nor mental demand and thus can increase safety while driving

Multimodal information presentation for high-load human computer interaction

This dissertation addresses the question: given an application and an interaction context, how can interfaces present information to users in a way that improves the quality of interaction (e.g. a better user performance, a lower cognitive demand and a greater user satisfaction)? Information presentation is critical to the quality of interaction because it guides, constrains and even determines cognitive behavior. A good presentation is particularly desired in high-load human computer interactions, such as when users are under time pressure, stress, or are multi-tasking. Under a high mental workload, users may not have the spared cognitive capacity to cope with the unnecessary workload induced by a bad presentation. In this dissertation work, the major presentation factor of interest is modality. We have conducted theoretical studies in the cognitive psychology domain, in order to understand the role of presentation modality in different stages of human information processing. Based on the theoretical guidance, we have conducted a series of user studies investigating the effect of information presentation (modality and other factors) in several high-load task settings. The two task domains are crisis management and driving. Using crisis scenario, we investigated how to presentation information to facilitate time-limited visual search and time-limited decision making. In the driving domain, we investigated how to present highly-urgent danger warnings and how to present informative cues that help drivers manage their attention between multiple tasks. The outcomes of this dissertation work have useful implications to the design of cognitively-compatible user interfaces, and are not limited to high-load applications

Age-Related Differences in Multimodal Information Processing and Their Implications for Adaptive Display Design.

In many data-rich, safety-critical environments, such as driving and aviation, multimodal displays (i.e., displays that present information in visual, auditory, and tactile form) are employed to support operators in dividing their attention across numerous tasks and sources of information. However, limitations of this approach are not well understood. Specifically, most research on the effectiveness of multimodal interfaces has examined the processing of only two concurrent signals in different modalities, primarily in vision and hearing. Also, nearly all studies to date have involved young participants only. The goals of this dissertation were therefore to (1) determine the extent to which people can notice and process three unrelated concurrent signals in vision, hearing and touch, (2) examine how well aging modulates this ability, and (3) develop countermeasures to overcome observed performance limitations. Adults aged 65+ years were of particular interest because they represent the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population, are known to suffer from various declines in sensory abilities, and experience difficulties with divided attention. Response times and incorrect response rates to singles, pairs, and triplets of visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli were significantly higher for older adults, compared to younger participants. In particular, elderly participants often failed to notice the tactile signal when all three cues were combined. They also frequently falsely reported the presence of a visual cue when presented with a combination of auditory and tactile cues. These performance breakdowns were observed both in the absence and presence of a concurrent visual/manual (driving) task. Also, performance on the driving task suffered the most for older adult participants and with the combined visual-auditory-tactile stimulation. Introducing a half-second delay between two stimuli significantly increased response accuracy for older adults. This work adds to the knowledge base in multimodal information processing, the perceptual and attentional abilities and limitations of the elderly, and adaptive display design. From an applied perspective, these results can inform the design of multimodal displays and enable aging drivers to cope with increasingly data-rich in-vehicle technologies. The findings are expected to generalize and thus contribute to improved overall public safety in a wide range of complex environments.PhDIndustrial and Operations EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/133203/1/bjpitts_1.pd