Many hands-free input methods using ear accessories have been proposed. Although most of previous studies use canal type earphones, we focus on the following two points. 1) A method for using the hands-free input function with ear accessories that are not canal type. 2) A method for using the same hands-free input function across multiple ear accessories. Then, using an infrared distance sensor attached to the ear accessory, we propose a method for recognizing the gesture of the user’s facial expression. Based on the change in distance between the infrared distance sensor attached to the ear accessory and the skin, the proposed method detects skin movement around the ear, which differs for each facial expression gesture. We created a prototype system for the root of the ear, earlobe, and tragus ear accessories. The evaluation result for nine gestures and five subjects showed that F-value was 0.94 or more for one device alone, and the F-value was 0.97 or more for the pattern combining multiple devices.

Sensing technology for eyeball movement (i.e., gaze movement) has enabled various applications, e.g., hands-free input interfaces and provided information that helps us understand human beings in various fields. However, the existing method, which senses eyeball movement constantly using a wearable device has limitations that should be addressed, e.g., cost. Therefore, we propose a method to recognize eyeball movements using eyewear equipped with multiple infrared distance sensors. The proposed method recognizes eyeball movement by sensing time-series data of eyelid skin movement, which accompanies eyeball movement, using an infrared distance sensor inside the eyewear. Evaluation results of five subjects demonstrate that the proposed method can recognize five types of movement with an F-value of 1.0 and 20 types of movement with an F-value of 0.94. Our study showed the feasibility of the proposed method for gaze input interface and for inexpensive technology that constantly senses the eyeball movement.

Research on hands-free input methods has been actively conducted. However, most of the previous methods are difficult to use at any time in daily life due to using speech sounds or body movements. In this study, in order to realize a hands-free input method based on nasal breath using wearable devices, we propose a method for recognizing nasal breath gestures, using piezoelectric elements placed on the nosepiece of a glasses-type device. In the proposed method, nasal vibrations generated by nasal breath are acquired as sound data from the devices. Next, the breath pattern is recognized based on the factors of breath count, time interval, and intensity. We implemented a prototype system for initial evaluation. The evaluation results for eight subjects showed that the proposed method can recognize eight types of nasal breath gestures with 0.89% of F value. Our study provides the first wearable sensing technology that uses nasal breathing for hands-free input.

Although it is socially and ethically important not to be late for a determined arrival time, a late arrival sometimes happens against a person's will in using public transportation. However, to prevent late arrivals, there are few approaches that focus on late arrivals caused by user's psychological factors despite the fact that these factors are related to users in transit. In this research, to prevent users from late arrival for target vehicle's departure time, we propose a method for presenting a vehicle timetable mixed with fictional information in consideration of psychological tendency. Our method manipulates the time interval of a vehicle's departure between a user's target vehicle and other vehicles by introducing fictional elements such as by hiding vehicles. We implemented our proposed system. Evaluation results confirmed that our proposed method is effective for changing user's advance planning toward desired direction to prevent late arrivals

People often feel dissatisfied when their subjective time (i.e. time that is subjectively experienced) is different from the objective time (i.e. time that is determined objectively). Because it is difficult for one to control his/her sense of time, manipulating subjective time easily with computing technology can enhance a user's satisfaction in many situations. In this paper, therefore, we propose a method for controlling a user's subjective time by using sensory stimuli designed based on filled-duration illusion (FDI) for wearable-computer environments. Filled-duration illusion is an illusion in which subjective time is affected by the amount of sensory stimuli within a certain duration. We evaluated three prototype systems involving our method using three stimulus modalities, i.e., visual, auditory, and tactile presented on wearable devices. In the experiment using prototype visual-stimulus system, we confirmed that user's time estimation increased significantly by about 18 % under the condition of stimuli-decrease pattern compared with no stimuli.

While people who want to style their own hair usually go to beauty parlors or barber shops, it is difficult for them to explain the intended hairstyle properly to hairdressers. Such experiences have led some of them to cut their hair, which we call self-haircuts in this paper. However, there are technical and environmental problems that prevent one from being able to cut his/her hair satisfactorily. Here, we clarify problems with self-haircuts and propose a system to support them using a movable camera. Users can cut their own hair with our system while viewing their head from any viewpoint they choose. It, specifically, has a function to track and display the points that users wish to cut by capturing their non-dominant hand based on image analysis. We confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed system from the results obtained from evaluations.