Researchers from the University of Waterloo in Canada and the Rochester Institute of Technology in the United States have developed a system that allows blind and visually impaired people to securely access their mobile device by responding to a series of vibrations haptics.
The vibration-based authentication system – known as OneButtonPIN – allows users to enter their PIN by pressing and holding “one big button” on their screen to generate a series of vibrations on their device that they then count, releasing the button each time the vibration number is the same as the number in their PIN they wish to enter.
“People with BLV [blind and low vision] frequently express frustrations with existing authentication methods such as drawing templates, fingerprint and face scans, and PINs. Some methods are difficult to use effectively without visual data. Others are vulnerable to privacy attacks,” the researchers explain.
“OneButtonPIN solves these security issues by using haptic vibrations that are imperceptible to outsiders.
“When prompted to enter a PIN, the user presses and holds a large button on the screen of their smartphone. This activates a series of vibrations separated by pauses; the user counts the corresponding number of vibrations to the number they wish to enter, then release the button and repeat the process until the desired numbers are entered.
“The method has also proven to be incredibly safe. In the second stage of the study, 10 sighted participants watched videos of people using both traditional PIN entry methods and OneButtonPIN, then attempted to guess their PINs.
“Each participant successfully guessed user PINs using traditional methods, but no one was able to successfully guess code entry using OneButtonPIN.”
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