by Patrick Saalfeld, André Mewes, Maria Luz, Bernhard Preim, Christian Hansen
Abstract:
The interaction with medical software during interventions challenges physicians due to the limited space and the necessary sterility. Current input modalities such as touch screen control present a direct, natural interaction which addresses usability aspects but do not consider these challenges. A promising input modality is freehand gesture interaction, which allows sterile input and a possibly larger interac- tion space. This work compares gesture and touch input regarding task duration to perform typical intervention tasks and intuitiveness. A user study with ten medical students shows mostly significantly better results for touch screen interaction. Despite the advantages of freehand gestures, it is debatable whether these can compensate the better efficiency and usability results of touch screen interaction in the operating room.
Reference:
Comparative Evaluation of Gesture and Touch Input for Medical Software (Patrick Saalfeld, André Mewes, Maria Luz, Bernhard Preim, Christian Hansen), In Mensch und Computer 2015 - Proceedings (Sarah Diefenbach, Niels Henze, Martin Pielot, eds.), De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2015.
Bibtex Entry:
@inproceedings{saalfeld_comparative_2015,
	address = {Berlin},
	title = {Comparative {Evaluation} of {Gesture} and {Touch} {Input} for {Medical} {Software}},
	abstract = {The interaction with medical software during interventions challenges physicians due to the limited space and the necessary sterility. Current input modalities such as touch screen control present a direct, natural interaction which addresses usability aspects but do not consider these challenges. A promising input modality is freehand gesture interaction, which allows sterile input and a possibly larger interac- tion space. This work compares gesture and touch input regarding task duration to perform typical intervention tasks and intuitiveness. A user study with ten medical students shows mostly significantly better results for touch screen interaction. Despite the advantages of freehand gestures, it is debatable whether these can compensate the better efficiency and usability results of touch screen interaction in the operating room.},
	booktitle = {Mensch und {Computer} 2015 - {Proceedings}},
	publisher = {De Gruyter Oldenbourg},
	author = {Saalfeld, Patrick and Mewes, André and Luz, Maria and Preim, Bernhard and Hansen, Christian},
	editor = {Diefenbach, Sarah and Henze, Niels and Pielot, Martin},
	year = {2015},
	pages = {143--152}
}