Effects of Chemical Protective Clothing on Task Performance using Wearable Input Devices

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dc.contributor.authorKrausman, Andrea S.en
dc.contributor.committeechairNussbaum, Maury A.en
dc.contributor.committeememberSmith-Jackson, Tonya L.en
dc.contributor.committeememberLockhart, Thurmon E.en
dc.contributor.departmentIndustrial and Systems Engineeringen
dc.date.accessioned2011-08-06T16:08:05Zen
dc.date.adate2004-10-18en
dc.date.available2011-08-06T16:08:05Zen
dc.date.issued1999-07-07en
dc.date.rdate2004-10-18en
dc.date.sdate2004-10-06en
dc.description.abstractWearable computers allow users the freedom to work in any environment including hazardous environments that may require protective clothing. Past research has shown that protective clothing interferes with manual materials handling tasks, medical tasks, and manual dexterity tasks. However, little information exists regarding how protective clothing affects task performance with wearable input devices. As a result, a study was conducted to address this issue and offer recommendations to enhance the compatibility of chemical protective clothing and wearable input devices. Sixteen active-duty soldiers performed a text-entry task with a wearable mouse and touch pad, while bare handed, wearing 7-mil, 14-mil, and 25-mil chemical protective gloves, wearing a respirator alone, and wearing the respirator and each of three gloves. Upon completion of the experiment, participants rated task difficulty, confidence using the input device, and input device preference. Task completion times were 9% slower with the 25-mil glove than the 7-mil glove. Text entry was not perceived as difficult when bare handed, or wearing the 7-mil and 14-mil gloves, suggesting that thin chemical protective gloves (i.e. 7-mil and 14-mil) are more suitable than thicker gloves for use with wearable input devices. When using the touch pad, task completion times were 17% faster than when using the mouse. Subjective ratings of difficulty, confidence, and preference provide strong support for the use of a touch pad input device rather than a mouse.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.otheretd-10062004-125028en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-10062004-125028en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/10172en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartThesis.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectExtreme Environmentsen
dc.subjectInterface Designen
dc.subjectHuman-Computer Interactionen
dc.subjectSafetyen
dc.subjectInteraction Devicesen
dc.titleEffects of Chemical Protective Clothing on Task Performance using Wearable Input Devicesen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineIndustrial and Systems Engineeringen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

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