Developing a wearable tactile prototype to support situational awareness

Abstract

Research towards my dissertation has involved a series of perceptual and accessibility-focused studies concerned with the use of tactile cues for spatial and situational awareness, displayed through head-mounted wearables. These studies were informed by an initial participatory design study of mobile technology multitasking and tactile interaction habits. This research has yielded a number of actionable conclusions regarding the development of tactile interfaces for the head, and endeavors to provide greater insight into the design of advanced tactile alerting for contextual and spatial understanding in assistive applications (e.g. for individuals who are blind or those encountering situational impairments), as well as guidance for developers regarding assessment of interaction between under-utilized sensory modalities and underlying perceptual and cognitive processes.