Soichiro Matsuda

FaceLooks: A Smart Headband for Signaling Face-to-Face Behavior

Eye-to-eye contact and facial expressions are key communicators, yet there has been little done to evaluate the basic properties of face-to-face; mutual head orientation behaviors. This may be because there is no practical device available to measure the behavior. This paper presents a novel headband-type wearable device called FaceLooks, used for measuring the time of the face-to-face state with identity of the partner, using an infrared emitter and receiver. It can also be used for behavioral healthcare applications, such as for children with developmental disorders who exhibit difficulties with the behavior, by providing awareness through the visual feedback from the partner's device. Two laboratory experiments showed the device's detection range and response time, tested with a pair of dummy heads. Another laboratory experiment was done with human participants with gaze trackers and showed the device's substantial agreement with a human observer. We then conducted two field studies involving children with intellectual disabilities and/or autism spectrum disorders. The first study showed that the devices could be used in the school setting, observing the children did not remove the devices. The second study showed that the durations of children's face-to-face behavior could be increased under a visual feedback condition. The device shows its potential to be used in therapy and experimental fields because of its wearability and its ability to quantify and shape face-to-face behavior.

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Best Paper Award

複数人による双方向の対面行動を計量する頭部装着型デバイス | A Head-Mounted Device for Measuring Mutual Facing Behavior among Individuals

In this paper, we describe the development of a head-mounted device that weighs and realizes in real time the interactive face-to-face behavior of multiple people. First, we define face-to-face interaction as a state in which two people's faces are positioned within ±20 degrees of each other's head direction, and describe the implementation of a head-mounted device that weighs face-to-face behavior based on the relative head directions of multiple people. This device uses an infrared communication module whose optical axis is aligned with the head direction to measure face-to-face behavior based on the state of established communication with other devices. It is also capable of showing the weighing results in real time by emitting light, and recording the start time, duration, and partner of the face-to-face state by interfacing with an Android terminal. Next, we analyze the subject's eye and head movements while looking at the other person's face to verify the validity of the defined face-to-face behavior. Then, we evaluate the performance of the developed device through laboratory experiments. From the experimental results, we confirmed that the device has a face-to-face detection threshold of approximately ±20 degrees and a response time of approximately 330 milliseconds. The face-to-face action measurements by the device and the video observer were compared, and the results showed statistically high agreement.

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Function of eye contact and face-to-face during dyadic conversation

Previous studies have reported that the results of experiments on social attention differ in physical face-to-face and mediated face-to-face (e.g., real people vs. images of people). These results do not indicate only the difference between laboratory setting and daily life, but suggests that the control variables of social attention difficult to control in the laboratory might have a great influence on social attention in the daily living environment. In this paper, we outline the previous studies related to eye contact and face-to-face during dyadic conversation and introduces the experimental plan using wearable eye-tracker and device that measures face-to-face.

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