HaptiColor: Interpolating Color Information as Haptic Feedback to Assist the Colorblind

HaptiColor: Interpolating Color Information as Haptic Feedback to Assist the Colorblind

Authors

Marta G. Carcedo, Soon Hau Chua, Simon Perrault, Pawel Wozniak,Raj Joshi, Mohammad Obaid, Morten Fjeld, Shengdong Zha

Paper

Video

Abstract

Most existing colorblind aids help their users to distinguish and recognize colors but not compare them. We present HaptiColor, an assistive wristband that encodes discrete color information into spatiotemporal vibrations to support colorblind users to recognize and compare colors. We ran
three experiments: the first found the optimal number and placement of motors around the wrist-worn prototype, and the second tested the optimal way to represent discrete points between the vibration motors. Results suggested that using three vibration motors and pulses of varying duration to encode proximity information in spatiotemporal patterns is the optimal solution. Finally, we evaluated the HaptiColor prototype and encodings with six colorblind participants. Our results show that the participants were able to easily understand the encodings and perform color comparison tasks accurately (94.4% to 100%).

Author Keywords

Color blindness; wearable computing; vibration;
spatiotemporal vibrotactile pattern; wristband.

ACM Classification Keywords

H5.2 [Information interfaces and presentation]: User
Interfaces – Haptic I/O.

Shen

Shen is an HCI professor at the National University of Singapore working on realizing his vision of HeadsUp Computing, a new Interaction paradigm that can transform the way we live and interact with computers. In his free time, Shen loves to read, run, spend time with family and friends, and explore nature.

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