Design and evaluation of auditory-supported air gesture controls in vehicles

Using touchscreens while driving introduces competition for visual attention that increases crash risk. To resolve this issue, we have developed an auditory-supported air gesture system. We conducted two experiments using the driving simulator to investigate the influence of this system on driving performance, eye glance behavior, secondary task performance, and driver workload. In Experiment 1 we investigated the impact of menu layout and auditory displays with 23 participants. In Experiment 2 we compared the best systems from Experiment 1 with equivalent touchscreen systems with 24 participants. Results from Experiment 1 showed that menus arranged in 2 × 2 grids outperformed systems with 4 × 4 grids across all measures and also demonstrated that auditory displays can be used to reduce visual demands of in-vehicle controls. In Experiment 2 auditory-supported air gestures allowed drivers to look at the road more, showed equivalent driver workload and driving performance, and slightly decreased secondary task performance compared to touchscreens. Implications are discussed with multiple resources theory and Fitts’s law.