Using Tactile and Multimodal Notifications on Smart Watches in Clinical Settings

Recent research has explored the use of wearable/hand-free devices, such as smartwatches, in clinical settings. Smart watch, in particular, can display information in different modalities, including visual, auditory and tactile, and thus has the potential to improve communication and notification in clinical environments that are overloaded with sensory information. However, few studies have examined the effectiveness of notifications received on smart watches and the factors that affect the performance while using smartwatches for notifications. This study investigated the effects of type of notifications (multimodal vs. tactile) and the environmental noise level on user performance while receiving notifications on a smart watch in a simulated nursing home setting. Eighteen participants performed four different tasks in a simulated clinical settings while they were asked to respond to tactile and multimodal (tactile and auditory) notifications received on a smartwatch. Results showed that the modality of notification did not affect user performance. However participants rated multimodal notification as more helpful. The noise level and type of task had a significant effect on performance. The results of the study indicate that the effectiveness of smartwatch notifications varies in different clinical settings with varying environmental features and with different of primary task. Adjustment of parameters for each setting would be necessary.