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%----------Zusammenfassung Englisch/Abstract----------------------------------------------------------------
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\addsec{Abstract}
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Keyboards are omnipresent in modern society. Hospitals, retail stores, offices
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or at home, the keyboard is still, the main input device for almost anyone that
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interacts with a computer. However, at some point, many people experience
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discomfort or even pain while using a keyboard because of the many small and
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repetitive movements the fingers have to do to operate it. Therefore, in this
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thesis we try to evaluate an alternative, non-uniform keyboard design, where
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each individual \textit{mechanical} keyswitch is equipped with a spring, that
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features a resistance, appropriate for the specific finger usually operating
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it. The idea behind this adjusted design is to particularly reduce the load on
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weaker fingers and still pertain or even enhance typing
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performance. Additionally, we try to answer the question, whether or not a
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keyboard with, per finger, adjusted actuation force has a positive impact on
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efficiency and overall satisfaction. Thus, we evaluated the current availability
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of resistances for mechanical keyswitches and conducted a preliminary telephone
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interview (n = 17) to assess preferences, use-cases and previous experiences
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with keyboards. Further, we ran another preliminary experiment, where we
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measured the maximum applicable force for each finger in different positions
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related to keyboarding as a basis for our adjusted keyboard design. Lastly,
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during a three week laboratory user study with twenty-four participants, the
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adjusted keyboard design and three traditional keyboards with 35 g, 50 g and 80
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g actuation force where compared to each other in terms of performance and user
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satisfaction. The statistical analysis revealed, that especially error rates are
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positively influenced by higher actuation forces and that keyboards with neither
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to heavy nor to light resistance generally perform the best in terms of typing
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speed. Further, the adjusted keyboard and the 50 g keyboard performed almost
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identically in all tests and therefore we could not derive any significant
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improvements in performance or satisfaction over traditional designs that
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utilize keyswitches with moderate resistance. However, we concluded, that with
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the equally good results, the adjusted design is still a viable alternative and
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with further improvements, e.g., complete personalization of spring resistance
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for each key, could possibly enhance the user experience and performance for
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sophisticated typists.
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% Even though experts recommend to regularly take a break from
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% keyboard work to prevent such symptoms, these recommendations can rarely be
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% implemented in working environments, where productivity and tight schedules are
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% very common. If the pain or discomfort persists, people have to either reduce or
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% a completely stop working with a keyboard, which in some cases might even force
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% them to change their profession.
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