ABSTRACT

We present Skinput , a technology that appropriates the human body for acoustic transmission, allowing the
skin to be used as an input surface. In particular, we resolve the location of finger taps on the arm and hand by
analyzing mechanical vibrations that propagate through the body. We collect these signals using a novel array of
sensors worn a san armband. This approach provides an always available , naturally portable, and on-body finger
input system. We assess the capabilities, accuracy and limitations of our technique through a two-part, twenty
participant user study. To further illustrate the utility of our approach, we conclude with several proof-of-concept
applications we developed.
Author Keywords
Bio-acoustics, finger input, buttons, gestures, on-body interaction, projected displays, audio interfaces.
INTRODUCTION
Devices with significant computational power and capabilities can now be easily carried on our bodies.
However, their small size typically leads to limited interaction space (e.g.,diminutive screens, buttons, and jog
wheels) and consequently diminishes their usability and functionality. Since we cannot simply make buttons and
screens larger without losing the primary benefit of small size, we consider alter-native approaches that enhance
interactions with small mobile system.
One option is to opportunistically appropriate surface are a from the environment for interactive purposes. For
example, [10] describes a technique that allows a small mobile device to turn tables on which it rests into a gestural
finger input canvas. However, tables are not always present, and in a mobile context, users are unlikely to want to
carry appropriated surfaces with them (at this point, one might a swell just have a larger device). However, there is
one surface that has been previous overlooked as an input canvas , and one that happens to always travel with us:
our skin.
Appropriating the human body as an input device is appealing not only because we have roughly two square
meters of external surface area, but also because much of it is easily accessible by our hands
(e.g., arms, upper legs, torso). Furthermore, proprioception our sense of how our body is configured in three-
dimensional space – allows us to accurately interact with our bodies in an eyes-free manner. For example, we can
readily flick each of our fingers, touch the tip of our nose, and clap our hands together without visual assistance.
Few external input devices can claim this accurate, eyes-free input characteristic and provide such a large interaction
area.
In this paper, we present our work on Skinput a method that allows the body to be appropriated for finger input
using a novel, non-invasive, wearable bio-acoustic sensor.
The contributions of this paper are:
1) We describe the design of a novel, wearable sensor for bio-acoustic signal acquisition (Figure 1).

Figure 1. A wearable, bio-acoustic sensing array built into an armband. Sensing elements detect
vibrations transmit-ted through the body. The two sensor packages shown above each contain five,
specially weighted, can tileverd piezo films, responsive to a particular frequency range

2) We describe an analysis approach that enables our sys-tem to resolve the location of finger taps on the body.
3) We assess the robustness and limitations of this system through a user study.
4) We explore the broader space of bio-acoustic input through prototype applications and additional
experimentation.
RELATED WORK
Always-Available Input The primary goal of   Skinput is to provide an always-available mobile input
system that is, an input system that does not require a user to carry or pick up a device. A number of alternative
approaches have been proposed that operate in this space. Techniques based on computer vision are popular. A
These , however , are computationally expensive and error prone in mobile scenarios. Speech input is a logical
choice for always-available input, but is limited in its precision in unpredictable acoustic environments, and suffers
from privacy and scalability issues in shared environments. Other approaches have taken the form of wearable
computing. This typically involves a physical input device built in a form considered to be part of one’s clothing.
For example, glove-based input systems allow users to retain most of their natural hand movements, but are
cumbersome, uncomfortable, and disruptive to tactile sensation. Post and Orth present a “smart fabric” sys-tem that
embeds sensors and conductors into fabric, but taking this approach to always-available input necessitates
embedding technology in all clothing, which would be prohibitively complex and expensive.The Sixth Sense project
proposes a mobile, always-available input/output capability by combining projected information with a color-
marker-based vision tracking sys-tem. This approach is feasible, but suffers from serious occlusion and accuracy
limitations. For example, determining whether, e.g., a finger has tapped a button, or is merely hovering above it, is
extraordinarily difficult. In the present work, we briefly explore the combination of on-body sensing with on-body
projection.