Exploration of Multi-fingered Access to 2D Spatial Information

The use of touchscreen devices with tactile and/or auditory feedback is increasingly being considered for providing refreshable graphics for individuals who are blind or visually impaired. Typically, with these devices, only a single finger is used to explore, limiting the perceptual field of view and, potentially, performance. This paper describes a study examining the possibilities of improving performance using simultaneous feedback for each of multiple exploring fingers. Preliminary results suggest that the benefit of providing feedback to multiple fingers may be dependent on modality and user characteristics.