Effects of Chemical Protective Clothing on Task Performance Using Wearable Input Devices

Abstract

Wearable computers allow users the freedom to work in any environment including those that may require protective clothing. Past research has shown that protective clothing impedes performance on manual dexterity tasks. Little information exists, however, regarding how protective clothing affects task performance with wearable input devices. To facilitate future development of wearable input devices, a study was conducted to determine the effects of glove thickness and respirator use on task performance and user preference. Sixteen male participants used both a wearable mouse and touch pad to enter text. Task completion times were 9% slower when participants wore 25-mil versus 7-mil protective gloves, suggesting that thin protective gloves (i.e. 7-mil and 14-mil) are more suitable than thicker gloves when using wearable input devices. Respirator use did not affect task performance. Subjective ratings of difficulty, confidence, and preference provided strong support for the use of a touch pad device rather than a mouse.