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Current wearable haptic display technology is limited by the lack of broadband tactors capable of delivering rich haptic effects across the entire perceptible frequency range. Audio speakers are often used in laboratory studies as broadband tactors, but it is difficult to attach them to skin and maintain contact during movement. Commercially-available narrowband tactors are small, low in cost and power efficient. We investigate the idea of interleaving narrowband tactile stimuli to achieve broadband effects. Twelve participants performed pairwise discrimination of two stimulus alternatives using two broadband tactors. One alternative was a broadband vibration composed of the sum of a mid- and a high-frequency vibration, delivered by a single tactor. The other alternative consisted of the mid-frequency component delivered by one tactor and the high-frequency by the other. The upper arm was chosen for stimulation because the tactors can be placed within the two-point limen of the skin. The sensitivity index results were significantly below 1.0, the criterion for discrimination threshold, thereby confirming that broadband haptic effects can be achieved by placing narrowband tactors with mid and high resonant frequencies within the skin’s spatial resolution. We provide guidelines and examples of applying our findings to the design of wearable haptic displays.
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Resonant Frequency Skin Stretch for Wearable Haptics
Resonant frequency skin stretch uses cyclic lateral skin stretches matching the skin’s resonant frequency to create highly noticeable stimuli, signifying a new approach for wearable haptic stimulation. Four experiments were performed to explore biomechanical and perceptual aspects of resonant frequency skin stretch. In the first experiment, effective skin resonant frequencies were quantified at the forearm, shank, and foot. In the second experiment, perceived haptic stimuli were characterized for skin stretch actuations across a spectrum of frequencies. In the third experiment, perceived haptic stimuli were characterized for different actuator masses. In the fourth experiment, haptic classification ability was determined as subjects differentiated haptic stimulation cues while sitting, walking, and jogging. Results showed that subjects perceived stimulations at, above, and below the skin’s resonant frequency differently: stimulations lower than the skin resonant frequency felt like distinct impacts, stimulations at the skin resonant frequency felt like cyclic skin stretches, and stimulations higher than the skin resonant frequency felt like standard vibrations. Subjects successfully classified stimulations while sitting, walking, and jogging, perceived haptic stimuli was affected by actuator mass, and classification accuracy decreased with increasing speed, especially for stimulations at the shank. This work could facilitate more widespread use of wearable skin stretch. Potential applications include gaming, medical simulation, and surgical augmentation, and for training to reduce injury risk or improve sports performance.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1830163
- PAR ID:
- 10100807
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- IEEE Transactions on Haptics
- ISSN:
- 1939-1412
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1109/TOH.2019.2917072
