Multi-Modal Wearable Ambient Display: An Investigation of Continuous Glucose Monitoring

The design of an interface for a pervasive wearable device requires attention to a wide range of user contexts, but can also leverage multi-modality in a way that mobile devices cannot. As wearable devices become more pervasively used, design paradigms for multi-modal display are increasingly necessary. Here, we describe a qualitative study of users of Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) devices, focusing on the ways in which device alarms are used to display glucose status. Our findings suggest that good design of wearable multi-modal ambient display should balance the social and cognitive implications of display modalities, consider the ability of an ambient signal to communicate a larger bandwidth of information, and allow display modes and thresholds to be customized to the individual user.