Pseudo-haptics and self-haptics for freehand mid-air text entry in VR

초록

Despite the lack of haptic feedback, two-finger typing remains as a common freehand mid-air text entry method in VR. To compensate for this limitation, we investigated the effect of pseudo-haptics and thumb-to-finger pinch self-haptics. Three types of virtual keyboards were developed for comparison: a normal virtual keyboard without any haptic features, a pseudo-haptic keyboard providing a haptic illusion by adding pseudo-haptic features to the normal virtual keyboard, and a pinch keyboard providing passive self-haptic feedback when the index finger touches the thumb to type bubble-shaped keys. A follow-up user study was conducted on the three keyboards to measure typing performance, perceived workload, and user experience. The results showed that the pseudohaptic and pinch keyboards were comparable to the normal one in typing performance and workload, but beneficial in user experience and preference. The findings suggest that pseudo-haptics and self-haptics could achieve experiential benefits in VR text entry without obtrusive extra devices.

키워드