Effect of Predictive Next-Letter Highlighting and Its Delays on the Bare-Handed Input in Virtual Reality.

The bare-handed interaction in virtual reality (VR) is gaining popularity because of the high naturalness of the interaction. However, the bare-handed input is disadvantaged by the poor input performance. This study attempted to use a technique - predictive next-letter highlighting (PNLH) to alleviate this problem. In order to investigate the effect of PNLH and the PNLH with different delays on input performance of bare-handed in virtual reality, a total of 30 participants familiar with the keyboard layout were recruited. They were required to complete five input conditions: input without the PNLH, and input with PNLH with a delay of 0, 150, 300, and 450 ms. Results indicated that the PNLH with a delay of 0 and 450 ms had better input performance than that without PNLH. The effect of the delay on input performance varied with duration—a delay of 300 ms will result in the worst input performance.