Using Eye Trackers for Usability Evaluation of Health Information Technology: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

BackgroundEye-tracking technology has been used to measure human cognitive processes and has the potential to improve the usability of health information technology (HIT). However, it is still unclear how the eye-tracking method can be integrated with other traditional usability methodologies to achieve its full potential.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to report on HIT evaluation studies that have used eye-tracker technology, and to envision the potential use of eye-tracking technology in future research.MethodsWe used four reference databases to initially identify 5248 related papers, which resulted in only 9 articles that met our inclusion criteria.ResultsEye-tracking technology was useful in finding usability problems in many ways, but is still in its infancy for HIT usability evaluation. Limited types of HITs have been evaluated by eye trackers, and there has been a lack of evaluation research in natural settings.ConclusionsMore research should be done in natural settings to discover the real contextual-based usability problems of clinical and mobile HITs using eye-tracking technology with more standardized methodologies and guidance.

Toward a new age of patient centricity? The application of eye-tracking to the development of connected self-injection systems

“…In humancomputer interaction, for instance, stationary eye-tracking systems are well established to investigate usability aspects of software tools or websites [53]. Usability testing of portable products, however, requires the use of mobile eye-tracking glasses, which allow the participant to move freely without restrictions while interacting with the product [48,49]. A camera integrated in the glasses records the participant's field of view ('scene video'), while two additional cameras located in the lower frame of the glasses record eye movement.…”

“…It does so by presenting a longitudinal case study applying video-based mobile eye-tracking [47] to iterative formative usability testing of a connected self-injection system. The article employs eyetracking to continuously follow users' eye movements and/or absolute point of gaze in order to assess visual and cognitive attention processes related to the use of products [48,49]. In so doing, the study advances eye-tracking as a methodology to evaluate three key dimensions of medical device usability: product effectiveness, product efficiency, and product ease of use.…”

How lay people understand and make sense of personalized disease risk information

“…All interviews were audio‐recorded and transcribed verbatim. We analysed the eye‐tracking data by searching for patterns in the individual absolute gaze duration heat maps (showing the observed and unobserved areas) and individual gaze plots (showing gaze motions as a sequence of saccades and fixations) of the web page showing people's risk result. While these analyses are well suited to shedding some light on the attention paid by people to the information, one should remain careful in interpreting the data, because heat maps and gaze plots cannot fully stand on their own .…”

Preliminary study of abnormalities in saccade dynamics in patients with hyperthyroidism with no pre‑existing eye damage

“…These processes are reflected in technologies that are widely used in industry, mechanical manufacturing and human engineering (23). In medicine, eye-tracking systems are mainly applied in neuropsychology and ophthalmology research (24). In the fields of psychology and psychiatry, eye-tracking technology has recently been confirmed to be useful in diagnosing various diseases, including Parkinson's disease (25), Huntington's (26), abnormal gaze (27), nervous system degenerative diseases (28) and early Alzheimer's disease (29).…”