 |
|
|
The
Value of Haptics (pdf, 422k)
A summary recent of published findings on the value of haptic feedback
in human-computer interaction. 12pp. © 2007 Immersion Corporation.
Once found only in offices, computers are now in every conceivable device:
mobile phones, cash registers, automatic teller machines, cars, and even
household appliances. They provide significant advances in productivity,
but because they’re now used in so many settings without the benefit
of a mouse and keyboard, they can exhibit unprecedented interface design
complexity.
A key advantage of computer-driven interfaces is the flexibility provided
by a programmable, dynamic display. A single touch panel can replace many
mechanical buttons, switches, and knobs, and provide increased communication
with the user. But the transition from mechanical knobs, switches, and
dials to electronic controls poses a
challenge to interface designers: the expected tactile cues aren’t
there.
As the scientific studies presented in this white paper indicate, haptic
(tactile) feedback provides several benefits, not the least of which is,
according to research performed by NCR, that it provides an essential
component in human-computer interaction (HCI) and has a quantifiable effect
on efficiency and error rates as well as user satisfaction.
Haptics:
Improving the Mobile User Experience through Touch (pdf 698k)
Independent research suggests how haptics can be used to improve the
user experience, and how operators can use haptics to increase differentiation
and customer satisfaction, enhance brand, and drive additional revenue
using high-value, haptic content and services. 12pp. © 2007
Immersion Corporation.
Driven by a competitive business climate, handset user interface design
is receiving a great deal of study and attention. Technology advances
have turned the mobile phone into the ultimate portable tool for information,
communications, productivity, and entertainment. Designing a user interface
(UI) that can handle these capabilities — and still remain useful,
usable, and uncomplicated — is the challenge. In addition, mobile
phones are among the most personal of devices, and UI designers know that
appealing to subscribers’ emotional, as well as physical (utilitarian)
needs, is a winning combination.
Wireless operators concerned about improving the mobile user experience
will understand the sense of touch as a tremendous and underused source
of both physical and emotional attachment. After all, people learn the
language of touch from an early age, having absorbed its lexicon, grammar,
and syntax even before verbal language. And though many of the leading
handset manufacturers have started to leverage the sense of touch through
tactile feedback (haptics),
visual and auditory communication channels are still the most often used.
Yet because the mobile handset is such a capable and complex tool, and
because people intuitively and effortlessly understand communication through
touch, the mobile communications experience stands to gain immeasurably
from the use of haptics technology.
The research presented in this white paper covers the use of haptics
in several implementations: (1) as the primary means of conveying information,
(2) as a means to convey secondary or peripheral information, and (3)
along with sight and/or sound to produce a multimodal interface. It is
organized into the following broad categories that describe the results
of a haptic UI:
• Expand the interface
• Improve performance
• Reduce cognitive loading
• Increase user satisfaction
|
|
|
|
