EarPut: augmenting ear-worn devices for ear-based interaction

Roman Lissermann, Jochen Huber, Aristotelis Hadjakos, Suranga Nanayakkara, Max Mühlhäuser

Abstract: One of the pervasive challenges in mobile interaction is decreasing the visual demand of interfaces towards eyes-free interaction. In this paper, we focus on the unique affordances of the human ear to support one-handed and eyes-free mobile interaction. We present EarPut, a novel interface concept and hardware prototype, which unobtrusively augments a variety of accessories that are worn behind the ear (e.g. headsets or glasses) to instrument the human ear as an interactive surface. The contribution of this paper is three-fold. We contribute (i) results from a controlled experiment with 27 participants, providing empirical evidence that people are able to target salient regions on their ear effectively and precisely, (ii) a first, systematically derived design space for ear-based interaction and (iii) a set of proof of concept EarPut applications that leverage on the design space and embrace mobile media navigation, mobile gaming and smart home interaction.