In recent years, eye tracking research has evolved in leaps and bounds. The technology behind it is becoming less expensive, meaning that more people can afford devices equipped with eye trackers. And, more and more applications are being discovered in which eye tracking technology can be leveraged.
With this progress in our industry, it’s no surprise that eye tracking is changing lives in many ways. In this blog post, we’ll explore four ways eye tracking is improving our lives.
1. We’re safer behind the wheel.
Auto-manufacturers, like General Motors and Toyota, are researching methods of vision- and attention-monitoring systems in cars that would use eye tracking technology to improve driver safety. If a car can track where its driver is looking, it could alert him or her to potential hazards outside the field of vision, or sound an alert if the driver’s eyes begin to close due to drowsiness.
2. Our ads are getting smarter.
Why bother with ads customers aren’t interested in at all? Businesses can use eye tracking research to study where consumers look at an ad online. Vision heat mapping can detect what bores and interests consumers, so marketers can move on quickly to newer, better ads.
3. We’re becoming better readers.
Researchers in Germany are working on software called Text 2.0, which intends to use eye tracking cameras to adjust a text page online to display pop-up translations and meanings of difficult or foreign words. The technology will recognize skimming behavior and adjust the page to make keywords more prominent and common words fade out, helping to improve reading comprehension.
4. We can diagnose concussions with more confidence.
Numerous studies on mild traumatic brain injury suggest that the shearing of connections in the frontal area of the brain are the cause of the memory and attention deficits that often result from concussion injuries. When doctors study patients’ eye movements, they can more quickly – and more correctly – diagnose a concussion so treatment can occur sooner.