TY - JOUR
T1 - Usability and Workload of Access Technology for People with Severe Motor Impairment
T2 - A Comparison of Brain-Computer Interfacing and Eye Tracking
AU - Pasqualotto, Emanuele
AU - Matuz, Tamara
AU - Federici, Stefano
AU - Ruf, Carolin A.
AU - Bartl, Mathias
AU - Olivetti Belardinelli, Marta
AU - Birbaumer, Niels
AU - Halder, Sebastian
PY - 2015/11/1
Y1 - 2015/11/1
N2 - Background. Eye trackers are widely used among people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and their benefits to quality of life have been previously shown. On the contrary, Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are still quite a novel technology, which also serves as an access technology for people with severe motor impairment. Objective. To compare a visual P300-based BCI and an eye tracker in terms of information transfer rate (ITR), usability, and cognitive workload in users with motor impairments. Methods. Each participant performed 3 spelling tasks, over 4 total sessions, using an Internet browser, which was controlled by a spelling interface that was suitable for use with either the BCI or the eye tracker. At the end of each session, participants evaluated usability and cognitive workload of the system. Results. ITR and System Usability Scale (SUS) score were higher for the eye tracker (Wilcoxon signed-rank test: ITR T = 9, P =.016; SUS T = 12.50, P =.035). Cognitive workload was higher for the BCI (T = 4; P =.003). Conclusions. Although BCIs could be potentially useful for people with severe physical disabilities, we showed that the usability of BCIs based on the visual P300 remains inferior to eye tracking. We suggest that future research on visual BCIs should use eye tracking-based control as a comparison to evaluate performance or focus on nonvisual paradigms for persons who have lost gaze control.
AB - Background. Eye trackers are widely used among people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and their benefits to quality of life have been previously shown. On the contrary, Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are still quite a novel technology, which also serves as an access technology for people with severe motor impairment. Objective. To compare a visual P300-based BCI and an eye tracker in terms of information transfer rate (ITR), usability, and cognitive workload in users with motor impairments. Methods. Each participant performed 3 spelling tasks, over 4 total sessions, using an Internet browser, which was controlled by a spelling interface that was suitable for use with either the BCI or the eye tracker. At the end of each session, participants evaluated usability and cognitive workload of the system. Results. ITR and System Usability Scale (SUS) score were higher for the eye tracker (Wilcoxon signed-rank test: ITR T = 9, P =.016; SUS T = 12.50, P =.035). Cognitive workload was higher for the BCI (T = 4; P =.003). Conclusions. Although BCIs could be potentially useful for people with severe physical disabilities, we showed that the usability of BCIs based on the visual P300 remains inferior to eye tracking. We suggest that future research on visual BCIs should use eye tracking-based control as a comparison to evaluate performance or focus on nonvisual paradigms for persons who have lost gaze control.
KW - ALS
KW - assistive technology
KW - BCI
KW - brain-computer interface
KW - cognitive workload
KW - eye tracking
KW - usability
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U2 - 10.1177/1545968315575611
DO - 10.1177/1545968315575611
M3 - Article
C2 - 25753951
AN - SCOPUS:84940726727
VL - 29
SP - 950
EP - 957
JO - Journal of Neurologic Rehabilitation
JF - Journal of Neurologic Rehabilitation
SN - 1545-9683
IS - 10
ER -