Abstract

We investigate gains in user appreciation and performance when the level of detail of tactile graphics is dynamically altered either at the press of a button or automatically, as a function of exploration speed. This concept was evaluated by asking 9 visually impaired participants to perform hierarchical spatial search tasks in a concert hall illustration. The tasks could be simplified by first searching for a section in a sparse illustration, and then a seat in a detailed illustration. The results show no improvement in task performance but indicate a user preference for explicitly controlling the level of details with the manual toggle.