Spatial guiding through haptic cues in omnidirectional video

Abstract

Omnidirectional video’s extensive amount of visual information challenges the users to find and stay focused on the essential parts of the video. I examined how user experience was affected when haptic cues in the head area are used to guide the viewer’s gaze towards the essential parts of omnidirectional video. User experiences with different omnidirectional video types combined with haptic guiding were compared and analyzed. Other part of the research was aimed to find out how haptic and auditory modalities and their combination affected the user experience. The participants used an Oculus Rift headset to watch omnidirectional video material and two actuators were placed on their forehead to indicate if the essential part located in the left or right direction. The results of the questionnaires and the comments showed that haptic guiding was useful and effective, though it was not experienced as a necessary feature during easy to follow and slow-paced videos. The combination of haptic guiding and audio was rated the most positive use of modalities. This feature has a lot of potential to enhance user experience of omnidirectional videos. Further studies on the long-term usage of the feature are required to eliminate the novelty effect and gain a more accurate understanding of the users’ needs.