Evaluation of automatic pointing assistive function effect in cursor-positioning task for people with disabilities

Abstract

Purpose. This study evaluates the cursor-positioning effect with the automatic pointing assistive programme (APAP) and a newly mouse driver for people with disabilities

Method. The APAP is designed to move the cursor to a target instantaneously when the cursor reaches inside this circular activation area. In this study, 20 people with disabilities participated in the experiment. Trial completion time was determined and compared with those in previous studies of cursor-capturing functions (jumping and gravity) and normal condition.

Result. Experimental results reveal that the pointing efficiency was improved by 65.29% with the APAP compared to that of the normal condition (p < 0.001) for people with disabilities. Data were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), with the level of significance p ≤ 0.05 and the ANOVA indicates that the capturing functions had a significant effect on the trial completion time (F(2,57) = 199.21; p < 0.001).

Conclusions. The performance of the APAP is superior to those in previous studies in positioning time for people with disabilities. The APAP function is expected to help aged users and novices in operating a mouse efficiently and easily.

Keywords:

• Disabilities
• automatic pointing assistive programme
• cursor-capturing function
• mouse driver

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.