Before hands disappear: Effect of early warning visual feedback method for hand tracking failures in virtual reality.

Virtual hand representation in Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) offers immersive and intuitive interactions in Virtual Reality (VR). However, current hand tracking algorithms are prone to errors, which can disrupt the user experience and hinder task performance. This paper presents a novel method for pr...

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Main Authors: Mucahit Gemici, Vrushank Phadnis, Anil Ufuk Batmaz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323796
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author Mucahit Gemici
Vrushank Phadnis
Anil Ufuk Batmaz
author_facet Mucahit Gemici
Vrushank Phadnis
Anil Ufuk Batmaz
author_sort Mucahit Gemici
collection DOAJ
description Virtual hand representation in Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) offers immersive and intuitive interactions in Virtual Reality (VR). However, current hand tracking algorithms are prone to errors, which can disrupt the user experience and hinder task performance. This paper presents a novel method for providing users with visual feedback when the quality of hand tracking decreases. Our approach employs a notification modal that warns users of potential failures. We identified three common hand tracking failure scenarios and evaluated the effectiveness of our method in two distinct VR tasks: object manipulation and complex assembly tasks. Results show that our early warning system reduces task completion time, lowers hand-tracking failures by up to 83%, decreases errors, improves system usability, and reduces cognitive load. This work contributes to the development of more robust and user-friendly VR HMD applications by enhancing hand tracking reliability, usability, and workload.
format Article
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institution DOAJ
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-68db00fe57fa4c13a2b1393d05a71b8e2025-08-20T03:20:01ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01206e032379610.1371/journal.pone.0323796Before hands disappear: Effect of early warning visual feedback method for hand tracking failures in virtual reality.Mucahit GemiciVrushank PhadnisAnil Ufuk BatmazVirtual hand representation in Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) offers immersive and intuitive interactions in Virtual Reality (VR). However, current hand tracking algorithms are prone to errors, which can disrupt the user experience and hinder task performance. This paper presents a novel method for providing users with visual feedback when the quality of hand tracking decreases. Our approach employs a notification modal that warns users of potential failures. We identified three common hand tracking failure scenarios and evaluated the effectiveness of our method in two distinct VR tasks: object manipulation and complex assembly tasks. Results show that our early warning system reduces task completion time, lowers hand-tracking failures by up to 83%, decreases errors, improves system usability, and reduces cognitive load. This work contributes to the development of more robust and user-friendly VR HMD applications by enhancing hand tracking reliability, usability, and workload.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323796
spellingShingle Mucahit Gemici
Vrushank Phadnis
Anil Ufuk Batmaz
Before hands disappear: Effect of early warning visual feedback method for hand tracking failures in virtual reality.
PLoS ONE
title Before hands disappear: Effect of early warning visual feedback method for hand tracking failures in virtual reality.
title_full Before hands disappear: Effect of early warning visual feedback method for hand tracking failures in virtual reality.
title_fullStr Before hands disappear: Effect of early warning visual feedback method for hand tracking failures in virtual reality.
title_full_unstemmed Before hands disappear: Effect of early warning visual feedback method for hand tracking failures in virtual reality.
title_short Before hands disappear: Effect of early warning visual feedback method for hand tracking failures in virtual reality.
title_sort before hands disappear effect of early warning visual feedback method for hand tracking failures in virtual reality
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323796
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AT vrushankphadnis beforehandsdisappeareffectofearlywarningvisualfeedbackmethodforhandtrackingfailuresinvirtualreality
AT anilufukbatmaz beforehandsdisappeareffectofearlywarningvisualfeedbackmethodforhandtrackingfailuresinvirtualreality