Mid-Air Tactile Feedback Co-Located with Virtual Touchscreen Improves Dual-Task Performance

The use of haptic technology has recently become essential in Human-Computer Interaction to improve performance and user experience. Mid-air tactile feedback co-located with virtual touchscreen displays have a great potential to improve the performance in dual-task situations, such as when using a phone while walking or driving. The purpose of this article is to investigate the effects of augmenting virtual touchscreen with mid-air tactile feedback to improve dual-task performance where the primary task is driving in a simulation environment and the secondary task involves interacting with a virtual touchscreen. Performance metrics included primary task performance in terms of velocity error, deviation from the middle of the road, number of collisions, and the number of off-road glances, secondary task performance including the interaction time and the reach time, and quality of user experience for perceived difficulty and satisfaction. Results demonstrate that adding mid-air tactile feedback to virtual touchscreen resulted in statistically significant improvement in the primary task performance (the average speed error, spatial deviation, and the number of off-road glances), the secondary task (reach time), and the perceived difficulty. These results provide a great motivation for augmenting virtual touchscreens with mid-air tactile feedback in dual-task human-computer interaction applications.