Perceptual evaluation of violin vibrations and audio-tactile interaction

Abstract

When playing a violin, the musician communicates with his instrument not only through his ears but also his fingers, chin, shoulder and eyes. He uses different sensory inputs which are provided by different sensory channels, such as auditory, tactile, kinesthetic, and visual, to play his musical instrument. The perceived vibrations are useful for the player to feel and to control the instrument. The interaction between sound and vibration plays also a role on the overall instrument perception. In this study, violin vibrations and their interaction with violin sounds were evaluated. Therefore the vibration amplitudes of the neck and the violin sounds were recorded simultaneously during normal playing. The vibration recordings were analyzed, and then additional stimuli were generated by filtering or modifying frequency components. In the first experimental session, the vibration stimuli, which were presented to the subjects via a mini electrodynamic shaker, were evaluated. In the second experimental session, an investigation with multimodal (auditory-haptic) stimuli was conducted. The results show the importance of vibrations on the overall perception of the instrument and provide information on useful vibration features for the player-instrument interaction.