GCI: Efficient Design of Gesture Based Human Computer Interaction Targeting Visually Impaired People

Human-computer interaction (HCI) exploits various input methods to improve user experience, but those without visual access suffer more than the mainstream. In this context, this paper proposes a novel Gesture-based Human-Computer Interaction (GCI) system for visually impaired people (VIP). However, a large set of gestures introduces complexity, which poses challenges for VIP to interact with computers. Therefore, an accessible assistive application with a minimal set of gestures is designed here. Nineteen (19) participants engaged, and several dimensions were evaluated, including skin conductance, NASA-TLX, and performance indicators. The gesture response time revealed that the proposed GCI technique is 39% faster than the existing technique. In addition, the skin conductance revealed a modest reduction, which means GCI caused a more relaxed reaction than the existing technique. GCI demonstrated significant statistical advantages in gesture response time, skin conductance, and forgot word count, while other measures showed comparable performance between the two techniques. GCI provides a more efficient and cognitively favorable interaction experience which opens a new era in the design and development of assistive technologies for VIP.