Measuring Target Acquisition Utilizing Madentec's Tracker Head Pointing System in Individuals with Cerebral Palsy
By Cook, Albert M., PhD; Warren, Sharon, PhD; Dobbs, Bonnie, PhD; McKeever, Rebecca, BScPT; RESNA 27th International Annual Conference 2004: Technology & Disability: Research, Design, Practice, & Policy,Publication Date: 2004
Study examining the impact of repeated sessions of target acquisition tasks using Madentec’s Tracker One head-pointing system in a sample of people with cerebral palsy (CP). The Tracker One can plug directly into a computer’s USB port, and mounts directly to the top of the user’s computer monitor. The device moves the mouse cursor by tracking the position of a small reflective dot, which the user places on his or her forehead or glasses. Twelve people with CP participated in the study, which involved four one-hour sessions conducted once a week. Mayer-Johnson’s Speaking Dynamically Pro was used to create grids of square targets with pictures, which could be selected via mouse movement and clicks. The Mouse Offroad from A!K Research Labs, which is a mouse odometer, was used to measure the distance the mouse traveled from the starting point to the target displayed by Speaking Dynamically Pro for each participant. Time in seconds taken to move to the target, and the total time taken to acquire the target were measured via stopwatch. Overall, nine of the twelve participants reached a smaller target size at the end of the study. Only three participants demonstrated a decrease in their time-to-select scores, yet nine showed a decrease in distance-moved to the target acquisition. The authors contend that the group as a whole decreased their target size without showing an increase in times or distance. The results suggest that more than four one-hour session may be necessary for people to gain maximum proficiency with the Tracker One head-pointing system.
Assistive Products Discussed: TRACKER ONE
SPEAKING DYNAMICALLY & SPEAKING DYNAMICALLY PRO
Published by: Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA) (Website:http://www.resna.org)
