What is it about?
The human eye has different vision regions which different capabilities. For example, central vision is needed to read text, while peripheral/side vision is required for motion detection. Thus, we looked at how smart glasses can show information in a way that doesn't distract people during face-to-face conversations. Instead of having notifications pop up directly in front of the eyes, we tried showing them in the side areas of vision. Our tests with a new design, a circular progress bar, showed that people found it less distracting and could keep eye contact better during conversations.
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Why is it important?
When we use smart glasses, getting constant notifications can be distracting, especially when talking to someone. It breaks the flow of conversation and reduces eye contact, making social interactions less genuine. By finding a way to show notifications that's less distracting, we can improve the quality of conversations and make smart glasses more user-friendly in social settings.
Perspectives
We believe that the side areas of our vision, the paracentral and near-peripheral regions, are underutilized in smart glasses designs. By focusing on these areas, we can present secondary information without disturbing the main task at hand. Our tests, comparing our circular design to more common designs, revealed that users preferred our approach, especially during conversations. This not only offers a fresh design perspective for smart glasses but also provides a path to enhance user experience in multitasking situations. We're excited about these findings and see great potential for future smart glasses designs based on this approach.
Nuwan Janaka
National University of Singapore
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Paracentral and near-peripheral visualizations: Towards attention-maintaining secondary information presentation on OHMDs during in-person social interactions, April 2022, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery),
DOI: 10.1145/3491102.3502127.
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