Affectiva's Breakthrough Calibration-Free Eye Tracking Feature Offers a Revolution in Attention Research

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Affectiva, a pioneer in Emotion AI, proudly announces its latest innovation, a calibration-free eye tracking feature. This groundbreaking advancement eliminates the need for tedious calibration exercises, simplifying the eye tracking process and enhancing user experience – especially in the market research industry.

Traditionally, eye tracking solutions have relied on time-consuming calibration exercises, adding minutes to survey runtimes and disrupting the research process. Affectiva’s calibration-free eye tracking feature removes this hurdle, providing accurate eye tracking through a standard webcam on a laptop or mobile phone screen, without special hardware or additional disruptions to respondents. By seamlessly integrating Affectiva and Smart Eye technologies, along with the development of distinct world models, Affectiva can accurately identify and track where a respondent is looking, all without the need for calibration.

"The primary objective behind introducing our calibration-free eye tracking feature is to minimize disruption to survey flow," stated Graham Page, Affectiva’s Global Managing Director of Media Analytics. "Our goal is to deliver effective eye tracking without added exercises, ultimately generating new insights about viewer attention for our users."

This innovative feature offers numerous benefits to users, including a significant reduction in survey disruption, lower estimates for survey run times, and the ability to track eye movements accurately over longer durations without the risk of losing accuracy due to changes in respondent positioning.

“Our calibration-free eye tracking technology adds an additional layer of insight about viewer attention, from the same participant videos that we use to understand their emotional responses. By doing so we can understand not just how they reacted, but specifically the elements of the content or experience that drove that reaction,” said Graham Page. “Unlike other webcam-based methods, which can lose accuracy if a respondent repositions or leans in, our technology allows for these changes, which yields higher usable data rates than is typical for webcam eye tracking.”

Affectiva's calibration-free eye tracking feature aligns with the company’s overarching vision to seamlessly combine eye tracking and Emotion AI. By integrating results from both eye tracking and emotional experience, Affectiva enables researchers to gain deeper insights into human behavior.

"Innovation is at the core of our product roadmap, and this calibration-free eye tracking feature represents a significant leap forward in the integration of eye tracking and Emotion AI," noted Matt Strafuss, Director of Product and Customer Solutions at Affectiva. "While initial adoption may be gradual as users fully grasp the potential of this technology, we anticipate widespread use once its benefits are clear."

Looking ahead, Affectiva plans to continue advancing the integration of eye tracking with Emotion AI, exploring new ways to dig deeper into consumer responses and user experience.

For more information about Affectiva and its calibration-free eye tracking feature, please visit www.affectiva.com.

About Affectiva:

Affectiva, a Smart Eye company, is a pioneer in Emotion AI, revolutionizing how brands and market researchers understand consumer engagement. The technology, trusted by 90% of the world’s largest advertisers, and 26% of the Fortune Global 500, detects emotions through facial expressions, gestures, and tone of voice using standard webcams. As the creator of the Emotion AI category, Affectiva’s solutions provide critical emotional insights that drive sales and strategy, enabling organizations to create more impactful experiences. Founded as a spin-off from the MIT Media Lab, Affectiva continues to lead advancements in AI, helping businesses worldwide to better understand and connect with their audiences.