Evaluation of Different Drawing Modalities and Their Impact on Tactile Free Hand Drawing on a Refreshable Pin Display

Abstract

Free-hand drawing is an integral part of many classroom learning activities, yet analog technology enabling tactile drawing for blind and low-vision students remains limited in functionality and frustrating to use.Refreshable pin arrays with high density and rapid refresh rates show promise for expanding access to drawing capabilities and benefits. Several such displays are new to the commercial market and vary widely in drawing implementation strategies, suggesting that best practices have yet to be established.In this study, we compared three different drawing modalities using a refreshable pin array; drawing directly on the pin array surface with a finger, drawing with a stylus, and drawing on a peripheral screen while the raised pins are felt with the other hand. We observed that using the bare finger, in both cases, was associated with higher drawing performance versus using a stylus. We also found that drawing performance decreased with shapes that required multiple strokes or precise angles, and higher performance did not always correlate with user confidence. Ultimately, we found that different drawing modalities and the unique requirements of the drawings themselves can impact user performance and experience in tactile sketching.

Keywords: Human-centered computing, Accessibility, Haptic devices