Learning to type with the tip of the tongue: a performance study for a tongue-computer interface

This study is motivated by the need to know the characteristics of the learning processes in tongue-computer interaction and to obtain a useful insight to a better design of the tongue-computer interface for computer text input. Tongue-typing can be a good alternative to hand input methods for physically disabled individuals or tasks where hand-typing is not possible. In order to evaluate the process of typing with the tip of the tongue, eight volunteers participated in tip-of-tongue selectivity training experiments using an inductive tongue-computer interface. Performance data based on typing speed and accuracy fits a general learning model based on the power law of practice, which can be used to estimate further improvements of tongue-typing performance. Simulated expert typing rates predict a tongue-typing performance 8 times slower than normal QWERTY keyboard, but duplicate the performance of other alternative input interfaces. Our results encourage the use of a tongue-computer interface over other methods for physically disabled individuals.