Gaze and voice driven hands free gaming

Abstract

Playing computer games is one of the most common and enjoyable activities in the modern lifestyle. However, people with motor impairments who cannot use mouse and keyboard are not able to interact with computing devices as required by the game design. In this regard, novel interaction techniques can enable hands-free control using gaze and voice as input modalities to assist people with motor and speech impairments. This is the first evaluation of a video game control method consisting of a combination of eye tracking and non-verbal voice commands (e.g. humming) applied in a 2D jump-and-run game environment involving essential spatio-temporal interactions. To assess interaction feasibility, the evaluation study consisted of both qualitative and quantitative measures. In addition, the feasibility was validated with a target user group of people with motor impairments. Overall, the results indicate a lower but competitive performance while increasing the fun factor.