Eyelid Gestures on Mobile Devices for People with Motor Impairments

Abstract

Eye-based interactions for people with motor impairments have often used clunky or specialized equipment (e.g., eye-trackers with non-mobile computers) and primarily focused on gaze and blinks. However, two eyelids can open and close for different duration in different orders to form various eyelid gestures. We take a first step to design, detect, and evaluate a set of eyelid gestures for people with motor impairments on mobile devices. We present an algorithm to detect nine eyelid gestures on smartphones in real-time and evaluate it with twelve able-bodied people and four people with severe motor impairments in two studies. The results of the study with people with motor-impairments show that the algorithm can detect the gestures with .76 and .69 overall accuracy in user-dependent and user-independent evaluations. Moreover, we design and evaluate a gesture mapping scheme allowing for navigating mobile applications only using eyelid gestures. Finally, we present recommendations for designing and using eyelid gestures for people with motor impairments.