Point and Select: Effects of Multimodal Feedback on Text Entry Performance in Virtual Reality

Abstract

The current study examined the effects of visual, auditory, and haptic feedback on VR text entry performance and perceived mental workload across two experiments. In Experiment 1, the feedback was presented as users were pointing from one key to another, dubbed pointing feedback. Results from Experiment 1 indicated that providing haptic pointing feedback led to faster text entry. Results also showed that providing any modality of pointing feedback resulted in more accurate text entry compared to no feedback, but there was no substantial contribution of additional pointing feedback modality to text accuracy when one pointing feedback modality was present. Providing auditory pointing feedback led to greater perceived mental workload of the VR text entry task. In Experiment 2, the feedback was provided when users selected the keys by pressing the trigger on the controller, dubbed selection feedback. Results from Experiment 2 showed that providing auditory or haptic selection feedback led to faster text entry performance and that providing visual selection feedback improved accuracy. The presence of haptic selection feedback led to lower levels of perceived mental workload. These results indicate that the usability of VR text entry tasks changes as a function of when and how feedback is provided.