Comparison of Task Performance and User Satisfaction Between Holographic and Standard QWERTY Keyboard

Abstract

Advancements in Internet of things (IoT) and sensor technologies along with deep learning techniques have enabled the design of several types of virtual keyboards including holographic keyboards. However, there is a need to better understand how its performance compares against the standard QWERTY keyboard in order to identify specific aspects of performance that are better as well as others than need to be further optimized. We conducted an initial two-part study. The first part was a controlled experimental study with 12 participants to see how a holographic keyboard compares with a QWERTY keyboard as a text entry tool on various metrics including task success, speed, and user satisfaction. The second part consisted of a short semi-structured interview with the participants, specifically based on the observations made by the researchers during the first part. Our initial findings indicate that although there is a speed advantage when users initially use standard QWERTY keyboard, there is a learning effect on speed with holographic keyboard and participants improve over time. Participants also indicated they would learn the holographic Keyboard quickly on a system usability sub-scale. This is still a work in progress and we aim to improve the design of the holographic keyboard based on the feedback from participants, and conduct a final summative evaluation.