Virtual hands: a comparative study of two text input paradigms for VR

Abstract

Typing is still the primary input modality for computing systems. Most typical Virtual Reality (VR) setups replace users' capable hands and fingers with cumbersome hand-held controllers (HC). This study examines the hypothesis that finger interaction and realistic representation of users' hands increases typing performance, sense of Presence, and the usability of a typing system for a text transcription task in VR. We developed a hand and finger tracking and visualization system (VH) aimed to help users interact with on-screen keyboards in VR, and compared participants typing performance using HC. We found that the VH paradigm in VR significantly increased typing performance for inexperienced typists and that HC users were more prone to commit errors. Further research may delve deeper into the utility of VH input paradigm for people unable to grasp HCs and for other symbolic communications such as sign language.