Assessing Braille Input Efficiency on Mobile Devices

Abstract

Our team has conducted a research on how today’s Braille input methods suit the needs of blind smartphone users. Hungarian blind volunteers (all active Braille users) were invited to participate. The research consisted of a survey on the participants’ relation to Braille and a series of input tests based on short Hungarian and multilingual texts both in grade 1 and 2 Braille using different devices and methods. Results showed that experienced Braille users can achieve remarkably high speeds and accuracy and that the use of contracted Braille further increases input efficiency. This paper also discusses the characteristics of typos occuring and their manual or automated correction during Braille input on mobile devices. Adding adequate automated correction mechanisms optimized for Braille typos may further increase the input speed nearing or even surpassing the speed of sighted people using ordinary on-screen input methods.