MALTRON Single finger or Head / Mouth stick keyboards have a unique shape and keyboard layout designed to minimise head or finger movement while keying.

Often described as a head keyboard, or mouth keyboard, the shape matches natural head movement and the key arrangement minimises finger or stick activity, raising speed and relieving frustration. Push-On, Push-Off keys are provided for Shift, Control and Alt.

MALTRON keyboards all have the ability to turn off key repeating at the keyboard if it is not wanted. If allowed by the software in use, the repeat rate can be set to SLOW, MEDIUM or FAST at the keyboard.

This head keyboard / mouth keyboard is fitted with a USB connector.

Alternative language letter layouts.

Other language layouts are available, and include Canadian-French, English UK, English US, French, German, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish.

Comparison of Maltron Frequency of Use (FoU) layout to a standard Qwerty Keyboard

Analysis between the Maltron layout and use of a standard Qwerty keyboard show that the ratio between Qwerty and Maltron layout is 1.5 times.

This analysis has been undertaken using the Modern Prose source text and calculates the movement and distance travelled from key to key. Shifted keys (Capitals Etc.) add the additional distance required to move to the shift key before keying the shifted character.

"Frequency of Use" for Single Finger/Stick Use Letter Layouts

A sample of modern prose work by various authors has been analysed and shows the following graphical distribution with the letter placements on the mouth/head stick keyboard.

Chart 1: Modern Prose FoU - Mouth/Head Stick Layout

The above chart shows the even spread of movement during writing.

Note: For clarity in the QWERTY diagram below, the space key has been shown on the bottom row. As a double key it is in fact closer to the main group.

Chart 2: Modern Prose FoU - Qwerty Keyboard Layout

Summary

The above shows the advantage of the use of the Maltron keyboard over the use of a standard Qwerty type.  You can see that  on the Maltron Mouth / Head stick FoU layout, activity is reduced to the central group of keys. Although the ratio of 1.5 times for a Qwerty keyboard may not seem much at first glance, as the figures show this adds up to a significant difference over time. Additionally the amount of side to side movement is greatly reduced and more balanced with up and down movement. This is significant in reducing strain on the head, neck and upper body muscles.

Additional advantages of the Maltron Keyboard become apparent when you consider other forms of input, such as numerical data. The close proximity of the number pad area allows their easy use. Conversely on a standard Qwerty keyboard the number pad area is a significant distance from the main group of keys and may in fact be unusable.

Specifications: