Evaluating the effects of colour blending on optical-see-through displays for ubiquitous visualizations

Charles-Olivier Dufresne-Camaro, Yumiko Sakamoto, Pourang Irani

Letter Of Changes:

We thank the reviewers for their their and insightful comments on our work. Please find below a summary of the changes made in the order they appear in the reviews:

-Methodology rationale: We modified the beginning of our methodology section to expand on our choice of Gabbard et al.’s methodology over other established psychophysical experimental designs in AR, as well as the considerations taken to adapt it to our setting.

- Methodology rationale: We clarified existing motivation/justifications for aspects of our study design (e.g., apparatus), and added more throughout the methodology section.

- Practical examples: We added two “real-life” examples in the discussion section to situate how our findings may be relevant to settings where optical-see-through displays are used (5.1.1, 5.2.3). We additionally added clarifications to our discussion about monochromatic colour maps.

- Study factors: We clarified our motivation in using these factors, and not using light CCT, in the methodology section. We additionally added related works on the effects of CCT on colour perception on OST displays, and discussed our findings in this context.

Misc_1: We added a link to the OSF page for this project at the end of the introduction.

Misc_2: We added acknowledgments.

Misc_3: All other changes made dealt with typos, grammar, and formatting (e.g., orphans).

Keywords: Ubiquitous Visualization, Augmented Reality, Colour Perception, Optical-see-through displays

Abstract: Optical-see-through (OST) augmented reality headsets offer users the flexibility to access relevant data visualizations anytime and anywhere. However, the appearance of content displayed on OST displays varies in colour and transparency depending on the environment they are viewed in, potentially leading to interpretation challenges. We present the findings of a psychophysical study ($N = 24$), aimed at assessing the impact of two environmental factors -- lighting intensity and background colour -- on user performance and colour perception accuracy in a visualization and colour-matching task using an OST headset. Our results suggest the effect of background colour on visualization interpretation is notable only under bright lighting conditions. Interestingly, participants perceived low-colour-contrast scenarios as more challenging, although their performance did not decline. Additionally, visualization colours were perceptibly and distinctly mismatched, but did not blend with the background colours. Finally, we discuss visual comfort and colour coding in the context of designing ubiquitous visualizations on OST displays, highlighting open challenges.

Submission Number: 31