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Designing safe and effective medical devices requires more than knowing whether users complete a task. Eye tracking adds objective visual attention data to usability and human factors studies, helping teams understand what intended users notice, overlook, search for or see too late when interacting with devices, interfaces and instructions.
In medical device development, critical information can be available but still not seen at the right moment.
Warnings, alarms, labels, displays, controls, instructions for use (IFUs) and device-related interfaces all compete for user attention. Eye tracking helps teams understand how people visually interact with these elements during realistic tasks, adding a deeper layer of evidence to existing usability and human factors methods.
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Eye tracking can be added to formative and summative usability studies alongside behavioral observation, task success and error analysis, interviews, and think-aloud methods.
It helps teams determine whether users viewed critical information, where they searched and what they saw before an action or use error occurred.
These insights can inform design decisions, root-cause analysis discussions, and use-related risk analysis.
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BenefitsEye tracking reveals where users focus their attention, helping improve the safety and usability of medical devices.
Device interfaces
Evaluate whether users notice and interpret key controls, readings, device states and feedback at the right moment.
Warnings & alarms
Determine whether safety-critical information is seen, missed or noticed too late during realistic use.
IFUs and labeling
Assess whether users can find, understand, and follow information needed for safe and effective use.
Healthcare workflows
Study how users divide attention across devices, screens, patients, signage, alarms and tasks.
CompareTraditional usability methods show what users do; eye tracking reveals what they see.
Measures outcomes, difficulties and use error.
Captures user feedback and reasoning.
Measures task efficiency.
Document actions during use.
Identifies potential safety issues.
Investigates why difficulties or errors occur.
Shows what users actually notice.
Reveals how users searched for information.
Identifies inefficient scanning.
Shows what attracts attention.
Compares expert and novice focus.
Measures impact of design changes.
Use case spotlightResearchers at the University of Massachusetts used wearable eye tracking in a high-fidelity clinical simulation to study how nurses interact with IV smart pumps during realistic clinical tasks.
Gaze data showed which interface features drew attention, which were missed, and where the interfaces caused hesitation. Combined with nurse feedback, the study helped researchers compare how different pump designs supported nursing workflows.
FeaturesMedical device development and human factors teams can use eye tracking from early concept research through formative evaluation, design iteration, and human factors validation.
Early research and concept testing
Explore how intended users interact with new concepts, prototypes, and workflows.
Formative usability studies
Identify attention-related issues early while designs can be refined.
Design iteration
Evaluate whether changes to controls, displays, warnings, labeling or instructions improve visibility and task flow.
Human factors validation
Add visual attention data to help investigate what users viewed, overlooked or searched for while performing critical tasks.
Design verification and risk review
Assess whether design changes addressed attention-related issues and use the findings to inform use-related risk analysis.
Post-study analysis
Compare attention patterns across intended-user groups, roles or experience levels to better understand performance differences.
Our products:quality(50))
Designed for the real world, our advanced wearable eye tracker allows you to conduct behavioral research in a wide range of settings.
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A versatile wearable eye tracker suitable for UX, sports, consumer, and industrial environments. Designed to deliver reliable insights in dynamic, high-movement settings.
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This high-performance research system captures gaze data at speeds up to 1200 Hz. A screen-based eye tracker for extensive research from fixation-based studies to micro-saccades.
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Our analytical software helps guide scientific and academic eye tracking research. Take control of your study and analyze the data in detail.
Other solutions:quality(50))
Eye tracking helps healthcare simulation teams understand how learners direct their attention, recognize critical cues, and respond during realistic scenarios.
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Eye tracking helps digital health products, and UX teams evaluate information hierarchy, alerts, workflows and decision-support features by showing where users direct their visual attention before they act.
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Eye tracking helps research and innovation teams study visual behavior, eye movements and pupil response across medical, pharmaceutical and life sciences research.
Talk to Tobii about how eye tracking can support your medical device usability, human factors or use-related risk studies.
Customers cases:quality(50))
Eye tracking insights derived from visual attention can be used to demonstrate the cognitive processes attached to particular tasks, and assess the level of understanding displayed by students during the learning process.
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Discover how eye tracking provides objective insight into user behavior, helping teams identify risks earlier and strengthen human factors work.
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Discover how eye tracking gives MedTech companies objective, reproducible insights into real‑world device use and the visual attention that drives every decision.
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Learn how eye tracking enhances training within the medical field. Wearable eye tracking is used to facilitate skills transfer and process optimization as well as understand decision-making.
Quick answersPractical answers about using eye tracking in medical device usability and human factors studies.