Selection Technique for Small Objects on Touch Screens for People with Muscle Tremor

Abstract

IT services and their corresponding hardware often form a considerable burden towards people suffering from muscle tremor. They either achieve very low levels of effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction or none at all due to the clear handling restrictions of the hardware. For this target group, a new method of handling this problem has been developed. The input information will be processed uniquely in order to guarantee that the tremor affected movement can still be reliably read as a certain input. The tremor patient will use a wiping technique on a touch screen. Physical deviations caused by the tremor are accepted and do not affect the finding of the intended input spot. Thus, instead of a direct movement the overall input “picture” of the user will be interpreted. Also, the screen surface causes increased frictional resistance which helps to reduce general movement. Specially designed heuristics help to identify the user movement and support barrier free access among the target group.