Gait alignment in mobile phone conversations

Authors:
Roderick Murray-Smith;Andrew Ramsay;Simon Garrod;Melissa Jackson;Bojan Musizza
Affiliations:
Hamilton Institute, NUI Maynooth, Ireland and University of Glasgow, Scotland;University of Glasgow, Scotland;University of Glasgow, Scotland;University of Glasgow, Scotland;Institut Jozef Stefan, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Venue:
Proceedings of the 9th international conference on Human computer interaction with mobile devices and services
Year:
2007

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Abstract

Conversation partners on mobile phones can align their walking gait without physical proximity or visual feedback. We investigate gait synchronization, measured by accelerometers while users converse via mobile phones. Hilbert transforms are used to infer gait phase angle, and techniques from synchronization theory are used to infer level of alignment. Experimental conditions include the use of vibrotactile feedback to make one conversation partner aware of the other's footsteps. Three modes of interaction are tested: reading a script, discussing a shared image and spontaneous conversation. The vibrotactile feedback loop on its own is sufficient to create synchronization, but there are complex interference effects when users converse spontaneously. Even without vibration crosstalk, synchronisation appeared for long periods in the spontaneous speech condition, indicating that users were aligning their walking behaviour from audible cues alone.