Mouthwitch: A Novel Head Mount Type Hands-Free Input Device that Uses the Movement of the Temple to Control a Camera

We have developed an interface (mouthwitch) for a head-mounted type camera with which pictures can be taken with a head-mounted camera, hands-free, simply by “opening your mouth continuously for approximately one second and then closing it again”. This mouthwitch uses a sensor equipped with an LED and photo transistor on the temple to optically measure the changes in the form of the temple that occur when the mouth is opened and closed. Eight test subjects (males and females aged between 21 and 44 years old) performed evaluation tests using this mouthwitch when resting, speaking, chewing, walking, and running. The results showed that all test subjects were able to open and close the mouth, and the measurement results pertaining to the temple shape changes that occurred at this time were highly reproducible. Additionally, the average value for accuracy obtained for the eight test subjects through the verification tests was 100% when resting, chewing, or walking, and 99.8% when speaking or running. Similarly, the average values for precision were 100% for all items, and the average values for recall were 100% when resting or chewing, 98.8% when speaking, 97.5% when walking, and 87.5% when running.