Tobii Dynavox uses eye tracking for user interface testing

Tobii Dynavox makes a range of assistive devices and software to help those unable to use their hands to control a computer, and those who can’t effectively communicate verbally. 

The question

Tobii Dynavox wanted to know in more detail, how users interact with its Windows Control software.  
The Software enables people to use their Windows PC via their eye gaze and removes the need to use a mouse or keypad which means that it needs to deliver an incredibly intuitive and smooth user experience. Because users often have a reduced capacity for spoken or written communication, it can be difficult to get feedback from user experience tests. The team wanted to be able to get a greater sense of how users interact with the software, which features and functions work well, and which ones need improvement. 

The method

Windows Control is driven by Tobii Dynavox’s eye tracking hardware, but to test the software’s usability the UX team turned to Tobii Pro’s solutions for eye tracking based user experience testing. Basically, their team used our software to test their software. During the tests the user ran through a series of tasks as they normally would while also using Tobii Pro’s software solution for eye tracking based UX tests, which allowed the UX team to view and record the gaze of participants as they interacted with the Windows Control features. 

The outcome

The information gathered by using our eye tracking based UX testing software allowed Tobii Dynavox’s UX team to see and understand how well various design features work and then make adjustments to improve them. It also allowed the team to provide other stakeholders with tangible evidence and explanations as to why changes should be made by showing them the gaze recordings from the tests. This material informed several design changes following the initial tests and gave ideas for how further UX tests could be conducted.