Voice vs Mouse: The Input Preference of People with Upper-Limb Impairments in a Multi-modal Block-Based Programming Environment

Voice-Enabled Blockly is a multi-modal block-based programming environment that allows people with upper limb motor impairments to create block-based programs using voice as an input modality, while also retaining the mouse and keyboard as a form of input. In this paper, a study was conducted to compare the performance of participants with upper limb motor impairments when creating a program in Voice-Enabled Blockly using voice and when creating the same program using a mouse. The results showed that although participants performed tasks faster with a mouse and they rated it higher, they recommend voice as the input modality for people with upper limb motor impairments.