GazePrompt: Enhancing Low Vision People's Reading Experience with Gaze-Aware Augmentations

TL;DR

GazePrompt introduces gaze-aware reading augmentations aimed at low-vision users, targeting two core challenges: line-switching and difficult-word recognition. By implementing two design axes—Line-Switching with Line Highlighting or an Arrow cue, and Difficult-Word with Text-to-Speech or Word Magnifier—across two controlled studies, the work shows faster line switching, a reduction in misread words, and enhanced perceived comprehension, along with user preferences and design considerations. The dual studies reveal complementary benefits: LS improves reading flow and concentration, while DW offers word confirmation, particularly useful for technical passages, though effects vary by visual condition. The research highlights eye-tracking calibration challenges in low-vision populations and argues for customizable, gaze-driven interfaces, potentially combined with manual controls, to advance practical reading aids for diverse users.

Abstract

Reading is a challenging task for low vision people. While conventional low vision aids (e.g., magnification) offer certain support, they cannot fully address the difficulties faced by low vision users, such as locating the next line and distinguishing similar words. To fill this gap, we present GazePrompt, a gaze-aware reading aid that provides timely and targeted visual and audio augmentations based on users' gaze behaviors. GazePrompt includes two key features: (1) a Line-Switching support that highlights the line a reader intends to read; and (2) a Difficult-Word support that magnifies or reads aloud a word that the reader hesitates with. Through a study with 13 low vision participants who performed well-controlled reading-aloud tasks with and without GazePrompt, we found that GazePrompt significantly reduced participants' line switching time, reduced word recognition errors, and improved their subjective reading experiences. A follow-up silent-reading study showed that GazePrompt can enhance users' concentration and perceived comprehension of the reading contents. We further derive design considerations for future gaze-based low vision aids.

Figures (6)

• Figure 1: GazePrompt interfaces. (a) The Line Highlighting augmentation of Line-Switching Support; (b) The Arrow augmentation of Line-Switching Support; (c) The Word Magnifier of Difficult-Word Support; (d) More color options for Line-Switching Support.
• Figure 2: Calibration & Validation interfaces. (a) 14-dot calibration interface; (b) 5-dot validation interface; (c) An illustration of sliding target for line-based calibration (the target will move from left side to the right side of the screen once activated, the white arrow is for demonstration only); (d) 5-line calibration interface; (e) 4-line validation interface.
• Figure 3: An example of line identification. The green bounding boxes represent the space of two lines: L1 and L2. Orange dots represent fixations and blue line segments represent saccades. The line IDs that are closest to the latest three fixations are 1, 1, and 2, with weight 0.2, 0.1, and 0.9, respectively. The final landing line is line 2 because it receives the most votes.
• Figure 4: GazePrompt changed participants' scrolling behavior. Orange dots represent fixations and orange line segments represent saccades. (a) P7 scrolled two lines up from bottom while her fixation went up to track the line starting with 'Matthews' that she was reading when not using LS Support; (b) P7 scrolled five lines up from bottom while her fixation went up to track the line starting with 'very' that she was reading when using LS Support. Red arrow indicates the progressing direction of fixations.
• Figure 5: Participants' preference on different augmentation designs of GazePrompt