Exploring visually impaired people's gesture preferences for smartphones

In this study we investigated how visually impaired people perform gestures on touch-screen smartphones. To this end, we recruited 36 visually impaired participants to explore differences and preferences in carrying out a set of gestures, selected according to certain characteristics (e.g., shape, number of fingers or strokes,etc.). For this purpose, we developed a system to collect gestures from several participants interacting with mobile smartphones at the same time. Results confirm previous research regarding the preference of visually impaired users for simple gestures, made with one finger and a single stroke. Moreover, rounded shapes were greatly preferred to angular ones.