Tapsonic: One Dimensional Finger Mounted Multimodal Line Chart Reader

Abstract

This paper focuses on utilizing combination of haptics stimuli and auditory clarification to elucidate statistical information, specifically line chart, to person with visual impairment. Past research has explored varieties of vision substitute methods to depict shape and value information of line charts. It was identified that even though the general trend could be well interpreted, individual data values were not sufficiently perceived. This paper proposes a statistic orientated approach, instead of reconstructing the shape of charts, it adopts a dimensionality reduction strategy to split 2D information into bidirectional haptics and linear movements. Explicit voiceover of data values would be provided based on one-dimensional finger movement to assist graph interpretation. Our evaluation study showed that such an approach enabled users to efficiently decipher line chart information with an appropriate cognitive demand and high data interpretation accuracy.