Differences in typing forces, muscle activity, wrist posture, typing performance, and self-reported comfort among conventional and ultra-low travel keyboards
| Autor: | Jonathan Sisley, Kiana Kia, Peter Johnson, Jeong Ho Kim |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male medicine.medical_specialty Posture Physical Therapy Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation Human Factors and Ergonomics Electromyography Wrist Fingers 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Physical medicine and rehabilitation Task Performance and Analysis medicine Humans 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Typing Muscle activity Safety Risk Reliability and Quality Computer Peripherals Muscle Skeletal Engineering (miscellaneous) 050107 human factors medicine.diagnostic_test business.industry 05 social sciences Equipment Design Consumer Behavior musculoskeletal system 030210 environmental & occupational health Biomechanical Phenomena body regions medicine.anatomical_structure Ulnar deviation Female Ergonomics Self Report business Extensor Digitorum Communis |
| Zdroj: | Applied ergonomics. 74 |
| ISSN: | 1872-9126 |
| Popis: | This study investigated the relative impact of ultra-low travel keyboards on typing force, muscle activity, wrist posture, typing performance, and self-reported comfort/preference as compared to a conventional keyboard. In a repeated-measures laboratory-based study, 20 subjects were invited to type for 10 min on each of five keyboards with different travel distances of 0.5, 0.7, 1.2, 1.6 (ultra-low travel keyboards), and 2.0 mm (a conventional keyboard). During the typing sessions, we measured typing force; muscle activity in extrinsic finger muscles (flexor digitorum superficialis and extensor digitorum communis), shoulder (trapezius) and neck (splenius capitis); wrist posture; typing performance; and self-reported comfort/preference. While using the ultra-low travel keyboards, subjects typed with less force and wrist extension, and had more ulnar deviation (p's 0.0001) compared with conventional keyboard. However, these differences in typing forces were less than 0.5 N and less than 4° for both wrist extension and ulnar deviation. The general trend of data did not show any consistent or substantial differences in muscle activity (less than 2 %MVC) and typing performance (5 WPM in speed;3% in accuracy), despite the observed statistical difference in the finger flexors and extensors muscle activity (p's 0.19) and typing performance (p 0.0001). However, the subjects preferred using conventional keyboards in most of the investigated self-reported comfort and preference criteria (p's 0.4). In conclusion, these small differences indicate that using ultra-low travel keyboards may not have substantial differences in biomechanical exposures and typing performance compared to conventional keyboard; however, the subjective responses indicated that the ultra-low keyboards with the shortest key travel tended to be the least preferred. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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