UIST 2024 Honorable Mention: Wheeler: A Three-Wheeled Input Device for Usable, Eficient, and Versatile Non-Visual Interaction

HCI Deep Dives

Md Touhidul Islam, Noushad Sojib, Imran Kabir, Ashiqur Rahman Amit, Mohammad Ruhul Amin, and Syed Masum Billah. 2024. Wheeler: A Three-Wheeled Input Device for Usable, Efficient, and Versatile Non-Visual Interaction. In Proceedings of the 37th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST '24). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 31, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1145/3654777.3676396

Blind users rely on keyboards and assistive technologies like screen readers to interact with user interface (UI) elements. In modern applications with complex UI hierarchies, navigating to different UI elements poses a significant accessibility challenge. Users must listen to screen reader audio descriptions and press relevant keyboard keys one at a time. This paper introduces Wheeler, a novel three-wheeled, mouse-shaped stationary input device, to address this issue. Informed by participatory sessions, Wheeler enables blind users to navigate up to three hierarchical levels in an app independently using three wheels instead of navigating just one level at a time using a keyboard. The three wheels also offer versatility, allowing users to repurpose them for other tasks, such as 2D cursor manipulation. A study with 12 blind users indicates a significant reduction (40%) in navigation time compared to using a keyboard. Further, a diary study with our blind co-author highlights Wheeler’s additional benefits, such as accessing UI elements with partial metadata and facilitating mixed-ability collaboration.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3654777.3676396