Touchscreen-based input technique for people with intention tremor

Patients with a tremor find it often very difficult to handle IT Systems and therefore attain very low levels of efficiency when doing so. The currently available user interfaces do not guarantee a sufficient precision when data input and selection is performed. People suffering from a intention tremor observe a significant increase in their tremor when approaching their input “destination” on the screen which further increases their discontent towards the process. For this target group a new method of data input has been developed and evaluated, which allows the patient or generally the affected user to input data with a wiping technique on a touch screen. Variations caused by the tremor are compensated with a continuous movement rather than a single direct movement towards a target area. Additionally, the screen surface causes a significant friction and helps to reduce the effects of the tremor. Specially designed heuristics help to identify the user input with a high accuracy and enable a barrier free access among the target group.