Design and Evaluation of an Open-source Gaze-controlled GUI for Web-browsing

Nowadays, motor-impaired people with Locked-In Syndrome (LIS) use eye-tracking technology to write and to access the web through commands generated by the detection of gaze movements and fixations on a graphical user interface (GUI). However, novel GUI concepts must be designed to further ease the control offered by eye-tracking, making it more responsive and less tiresome. This paper presents and evaluates an open-source standalone GUI design, SightWeb, that fully and easily controls a web browser through gaze movements without any page analysis. Its temporary menu centered in the area of action allows for reduced eye saccade and mental workload. SightWeb was evaluated against a state-of-the-art eye tracking based web interface (The Grid 3 by Thinksmartbox). The results (gaze movements, execution times, user experience questionnaire scores) suggest that SightWeb is quicker to learn and to use, more appreciated and less tiring than a traditional assistive GUI. This shows that the system can be, not only an improved interface for patients, but also an instrumental piece of software for researchers working in related areas.