Emerging Interfaces
Researchers Built a Secret Channel Between You and a Robot — Using In-Ear Audio and a Head Tilt
A study accepted to MUM 2026 tested a wearable-mediated channel for discreet human-agent interaction: in-ear audio messages paired with deliberate head tilts as responses. In 40 participants playing a card game with a screen-based conversational agent, the discreet channel worked as intended in 39 of 40 turns, though interviews revealed mixed awareness and fairness concerns among non-wearers.