The Impact of Handedness on User Performance in Touchless Input

Abstract People use touchless input when interacting with virtual or augmented reality. During those interactions, they may alternate between hands or use both hands simultaneously. How does handedness impact user performance in touchless input? We hypothesized that touchless inputs, owing to a lower demand for feedback control, will produce much less between-hands performance differences than traditional input devices like the mouse or stylus. In our experiments, participants performed pointing and dragging with freehand and device-based touchless inputs. Both types of touchless inputs produced significantly less degradation between hands than the mouse or stylus. Furthermore, structural equation models elucidated the relation between handedness, input type, and user performance. Our findings indicate that only input devices with relatively higher demand for feedback control produce significant between-hands performance differences.