EyeLiveMetrics: Real-time Analysis of Online Reading with Eye Tracking

2024-06-04

Eye Tracking Research & Application

AI Summary

This study addresses the limitations of existing eye-tracking tools, which struggle to align raw gaze coordinates with textual content in real time during web reading and cannot compute reading metrics instantaneously. To overcome these challenges, this work proposes a browser extension that, for the first time, enables automatic real-time mapping of eye-tracking data onto web-based text and supports online computation, storage, and output of reading metrics at both word and paragraph levels—including fixations and saccades. By integrating a lightweight plugin architecture with an efficient mapping algorithm, the approach significantly enhances the timeliness and usability of eye-movement analysis. Experimental validation demonstrates that the tool achieves high accuracy and flexibility, making it suitable for both research and real-time application scenarios.

Technology Category

• Computer Vision: Motion & Tracking
• Humans and AI: Brain-Sensing and Analysis
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science

Application Category

• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Web measurements
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web evaluation methodologies and metrics
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Web performance, measurement, and characterization

Abstract

Existing eye tracking software have certain limitations, especially with respect to monitoring reading online: (1) Most eye tracking software record eye tracking data as raw coordinates and stimuli as screen images/videos, but without inherent links between both. Analysts must draw areas of interest (AOIs) on webpage text for more fine-grained reading analysis. (2) The computation and analysis of fixation and reading metrics are done after the experiment and thus cannot be used for live applications. We present EyeLiveMetrics, a browser plugin that automatically maps raw gaze coordinates to text in real time. The plugin instantly calculates, stores, and provides fixation, saccade, and reading measures on words and paragraphs so that gaze behavior can be analyzed immediately. We also discuss the results of a comparative evaluation. EyeLiveMetrics offers a flexible way to measure reading on the web - for research experiments and live applications.

Problem

• eye tracking
• online reading
• real-time analysis
• areas of interest
• fixation metrics

Innovation

• real-time eye tracking
• online reading analysis
• gaze-to-text mapping
• fixation metrics
• browser plugin