Bodily interaction in the dark

Abstract

In light of the growing interest in designing for new body-movement based interfaces through somaesthetics and somatic awareness, we created a sound-based interaction using the Microsoft Kinect device, which is performed in the dark. The absence of visual feedback led participants to deeply focus on the movement of their bodies, and to have a different awareness of their bodies and the space around them. The notable difference between performing this interaction in light and dark suggests that non-visual based interfaces are a fruitful area to explore in somaesthetic interaction. Copyright © 2013 ACM.