Exploring Eye Visibility and Mutual Gaze in Augmented Reality Glasses

As Pervasive Augmented Reality, a continuous and omnipresent augmentation of our environments, presents itself as the next evolution in wearable technology, we ought to explore how this addition to our day-to-day lives will change the way we interact with each other. Significantly, how the lack of mutual gaze (eye contact) due to the tinted nature of Augmented Reality glasses would affect our interpersonal relationships and behaviours. We conducted an empirical study with 20 participants who, in pairs, were exposed to a Pervasive AR technology probe that allowed them to make their eyes more or less visible based on their preferences. In this work, we report our findings related to the eye visibility levels the user expects for themselves and from others, as well as its effect on fellow users' trustworthiness and the social acceptability of Pervasive AR devices.