Introduction:
Public access defibrillators (PADs) are commonly used by untrained rescuers, who require graphical user interfaces (GUIs) which enable rapid navigation to the critical tasks. Branding may help users familiarise themselves with PADs, but whether it induces unnecessary additional cognitive processing or becomes a distraction is unknown. This study utilized eye-tracking technology to assess whether branding on PADs distracts the user from the power and shock buttons, which are critical Areas-of-Interest (AoI) on the GUI.

Methods:
Forty participants were recruited (18-53 years, 52.5% male). Images of the GUIs of 10 PADs were displayed in a randomized order for each participant for 30s on an LCD monitor. A Tobii-X60 Eye-Tracker captured eye-gaze data. AoIs were defined as power button, shock button company name, logo or device name on Tobii Studio analysis software to enable the computation of eye-gaze metrics within that region.

Results:
Seven of the GUIs contained a form of branding. The mean (SD) time-to-first-fixation (TFF) and total fixation duration (TFD) were computed for each AoI in each GUI and respective boxplots were produced (Figure 1). The mean (SD) TFF ranged from 1.92 (2.56) to 19.31 (14.13). The mean (SD) TFD ranged from 0.39s (0.64) to 3.13s (1.56). Importantly, no participants fixated on the branding of any PAD before the power and shock buttons.

Conclusion:
Branding occupies a proportion of the user’s visual attention, but fixation duration is short and occurs after fixation on power and shock buttons suggesting that it may not affect device use.

4 - Could branding influence user interface interaction on emergency medical devices? Using eye-tracking technology to assess user’s visual attention when viewing public access defibrillators