Augmenting Sonic Experiences Through Haptic Feedback

Sonic experiences are usually considered as the result of auditory feedback alone. From a psychological standpoint, however, this is true only when a listener is kept isolated from concurrent stimuli targeting the other senses. Such stimuli, in fact, may either interfere with the sonic experience if they distract the listener, or conversely enhance it if they convey sensations coherent with what is being heard. This chapter is concerned with haptic augmentations having effects on auditory perception, for example how different vibrotactile cues provided by an electronic musical instrument may affect its perceived sound quality or the playing experience. Results from different experiments are reviewed showing that the auditory and somatosensory channels together can produce constructive effects resulting in measurable perceptual enhancement. That may affect sonic dimensions ranging from basic auditory parameters, such as the perceived intensity of frequency components, up to more complex perceptions which contribute to forming our ecology of everyday or musical sounds

COVID-19 and Visual Disability: Can’t Look and Now Don’t Touch

Article provides a scientific explanation for pandemic-related challenges blind and visually impaired (BVI) people experience. These challenges include spatial cognition, nonvisual information access, and environmental perception. Also offers promising technical solutions for the above challenges

Gamma EEG Correlates of Haptic Preferences for a Dial Interface

Consumers often develop preferences toward consumer electronics based not only on the visual appearance of a product, but also on its haptic interface. If consumers express a strong haptic preference for a consumer electronic product, they are more likely to purchase it. Hence, it is important to understand how consumers' haptic preference for consumer electronics is formed. Conventional paper-based methods may not provide sufficient information for this purpose, because they provide post-event (i.e., after haptic experience) and environment-dependent (i.e., depending on the manner of asking questions, the person asking the questions, and so on.) data. Therefore, the present study investigated haptic preferences for consumer electronics using neural responses during haptic experiences, which provide the advantage of observing changes while the user is manipulating the product and obtaining environment-independent data. We measured neural responses using non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG). Eighteen volunteers participated in the study and manipulated a haptic dial knob that generates four different haptic profiles; during the manipulation, their EEG signals were recorded. After experiencing different haptic profiles, participants reported their level of preference for each profile. The analysis of EEG revealed that frontal gamma oscillations correlate with the level of haptic preferences, with oscillations becoming stronger with increasing haptic preference. The highest correlation between frontal gamma power and haptic preference was found in the early period of the dial task. Therefore, the frontal gamma oscillation of the EEG may represent a neural correlate of the haptic preference and provides a neural basis for understanding this preference in relation to consumer electronics