Evaluating Vibration Patterns in HTML5 for Smartphone Haptic Applications

Abstract

Nowadays, accessing visual information is an essential need for all kinds of tasks and users, including blinds. However, access to written information like texts, images and graphics is still severely limited for people with visual impairments. The massive spread of smart phones has inspired developers to take advantage of the touch screen technology for developing aids for people with visual impairments, particularly by incorporating vibro-tactile stimulation to convey patterns on their surfaces. This paper describes a procedure for creating tactile interfaces for android smart phones. The procedure uses the HTML5 Vibration API and the JavaScript programming language to create vibration patterns in order to increase the interaction between visually impaired people with their smart phones. Experiments were performed only on blindfolded candidates, who are requested to identify the difference between various vibration patters on their smart phones.