Tactile Displays of Pulse Oximetry in Integrated and Separated Configurations

Abstract

Vibrotactile displays have been trialled in a variety of cognitively demanding domains, including healthcare. Previous work suggests that vibrotactile displays can be used to inform clinicians of patient status, particularly when the displays are alarm-style alerts in surgical or critical care. The goal of the present study is to evaluate how well a common measure of patient well-being—pulse oximetry—can be communicated via an upper-arm vibrotactile prototype. Pulse oximetry includes two important vital signs: heart rate and oxygen saturation. Two displays were tested in a between-subjects design: (1) the Separated display presented heart rate first, followed by oxygen saturation; and (2) the Integrated display communicated both vital signs simultaneously. Participants identified five ranges of heart rate and three levels of oxygen saturation with very high accuracy (>90%), regardless of display type. Although participants’ identification accuracy improved marginally with practice, their initial high level of performance was achieved with minimal training. Findings will inform a broader program of research in which we aim to test whether vibrotactile displays might be useful as a part of multi-modal patient monitoring.