Good vibrations: Guiding body movements with vibrotactile feedback

We describe the ongoing development of a system to support the teaching of good posture and bowing technique to novice violin players. Using an inertial motion capture system we can track in real-time a player’s bowing action and how it deviates from a target trajectory set by their music teacher. The system provides real-time vibrotactile feedback on the correctness of the student’s posture and bowing action. We present the findings of an initial study that shows that vibrotactile feedback can guide arm movements in one and two dimension pointing tasks. The advantages of vibrotactile feedback for teaching basic bowing technique to novice violin players are that it does not place demands on the students’ visual and auditory systems which are already heavily involved in the activity of music making, and is understood with little training

The digitally 'Hand Made' object

This article will outline the author’s investigations of types of computer interfaces in practical three-dimensional design practice. The paper contains a description of two main projects in glass and ceramic tableware design, using a Microscribe G2L digitising arm as an interface to record three-dimensional spatial\ud design input.\ud \ud The article will provide critical reflections on the results of the investigations and will argue that new approaches in digital design interfaces could have relevance in developing design methods which incorporate more physical ‘human’ expressions in a three-dimensional design practice. The research builds on concepts indentified in traditional craft practice as foundations for constructing new types of creative practices based on the use of digital technologies, as outlined by McCullough (1996)

Respiratory Muscle Strength Training to Improve Vocal Function of Patients with Presbyphonia

Background: Presbyphonia is an age-related voice disorder characterized by vocal fold atrophy, and its effects on voice are potentially compounded by declines in respiratory function. We assessed: 1) the relationships between respiratory and voice function; 2) the effect of adding respiratory exercises to voice therapy; and 3) the impact of baseline respiratory function on the response to therapy in patients with presbyphonia. Methods: Twenty-one participants underwent respiratory and voice assessments, from which relationships were drawn. Ten of these participants were blocked-randomized to receive either voice exercises only, or voice exercises combined with inspiratory muscle strength training or expiratory muscle strength training, for a duration of four weeks. Results: FVC, FEV1, and MEP had an impact on phonation physiology through their effect on aerodynamic resistance and vocal fold pliability. Percent predicted values of FVC and FEV1 were strong predictors of perceived voice handicap. IMST induced the largest improvements in perceived handicap, and a lower baseline respiratory function was associated with a greater improvement, regardless of the intervention received. Conclusion: Respiratory function impacts voice and the response to behavioral voice therapy. Adding IMST to voice exercises improves self-reported outcomes even in patients with a normal respiratory function

A Virtual Reality Platform for Musical Creation

International audienceVirtual reality aims at interacting with a computer in a similar form to interacting with an object of the real world. This research presents a VR platform allowing the user (1) to interactively create physically-based musical instruments and sounding objects, (2) play them in real time by using multisensory interaction by ways of haptics, 3D visualisation during playing, and real time physically-based sound synthesis. So doing, our system presents the two main properties expected in VR systems: the possibility of designing any type of objects and manipulating them in a multisensory real time fashion. By presenting our environment, we discuss the scientific underlying questions: (1) concerning the real time simulation, the way to manage simultaneous audio-haptic-visual cooperation during the real time multisensory simulations and (2) the Computer Aided Design functionalities for the creation of new physically-based musical instruments and sounding objects

Musical Haptics

Haptic Musical Instruments; Haptic Psychophysics; Interface Design and Evaluation; User Experience; Musical Performanc

Micromachined in-plane acoustic pressure gradient sensors

textThis work presents the fabrication, modeling, and characterization of two first-generation acoustic in-plane pressure gradient sensors. The first is a micromachined piezoelectric microphone. The microphone structure consists of a semi-rigid beam structure that rotates about torsional pivots in response to in-plane pressure gradients across the length of the beam. The rotation of the beam structure is transduced by piezoelectric cantilevers, which deflect when the beam structure rotates. Sensors with both 10 and 20-μm-thick beam structures are presented. An analytical model and multi-mode, multi-port network model utilizing finite-element analysis for parameter extraction are presented and compared to acoustic sensitivity measurements. Directivity measurements are interpreted in terms of the multi-mode model. A noise model for the sensor and readout electronics is presented and compared to measurements. The second sensor is a capacitive sensor which is comprised of two vacuum-sealed, pistons coupled to each other by a pivoting beam. The use of a pivoting beam can, in principle, enable high rotational compliance to in-plane small-signal acoustic pressure gradients, while resisting piston collapse against large background atmospheric pressure. A design path towards vacuum-sealed, surface micromachined broadband microphones is a motivation to explore the sensor concept. Fabrication of surface micromachined prototypes is presented, followed by finite element modeling and experimental confirmation of successful vacuum-sealing. Dynamic frequency response measurements are obtained using broadband electrostatic actuation and confirm a first fundamental rocking mode near 250 kHz. Successful reception of airborne ultrasound in air at 130 kHz is also demonstrated, and followed by a discussion of design paths toward improve signal-to-noise ratio beyond that of the initial prototypes presented. A method of localizing sound sources is demonstrated using the piezoelectric sensor. The localization method utilizes the multiple-port nature of the sensor to simultaneously extract the pressure gradient and pressure magnitude components of the incoming acoustic signal. An algorithm for calculating the sound source location from the pressure gradient and pressure magnitude measurement is developed. The method is verified by acoustic measurements performed at 2 kHz.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

Musical Haptics

Haptic Musical Instruments; Haptic Psychophysics; Interface Design and Evaluation; User Experience; Musical Performanc