Effect Of Vibrotactile Feedback Research Articles

Effect of vibrotactile feedback and perception induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation over the primary motor cortex in virtual hand illusion

Noninvasive brain stimulation has the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with virtual environments by inducing tactile sensations. In this study, we conducted a virtual hand illusion experiment to investigate how the induced embodiment in virtual reality using brain stimulation differs from that using traditional haptic devices. The haptic glove was used to provide vibrotactile feedback, while the noninvasive brain stimulation was achieved through transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to elicit hand movement and sensation. We compared the proprioceptive drifts resulting from the changes in ownership and body representation. Both the TMS and vibrotactile methods showed a similar tendency of moving toward the virtual hand, indicating the successful induction of the illusion of embodiment. The drifts were 21.9 mm and 30.7 mm for the vibrotactile and the TMS-evoked perception, respectively. Questionnaire results about ownership significantly favored the synchronous condition of visual and haptic sensations compared to the asynchronous condition. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of using TMS-based virtual reality to enhance the illusion effect, offering new possibilities for improved interactions in virtual environments.

Vibrotactile feedback in m‐commerce: Stimulating perceived control and perceived ownership to increase anticipated satisfaction

AbstractConsumers increasingly purchase through m‐channels, including apps. Accordingly, marketers have enhanced immersive, sensorial aspects of m‐channels, such as including vibrations while making in‐app purchases. Given discrepant findings, it remains unclear whether adding such vibrotactile feedback affects consumer decision making. The present research addresses: (1) Whether adding vibrotactile feedback influences consumers' anticipated product satisfaction and purchase confidence, and (2) if so, how? Through an online pilot survey, two online experiments, and one lab experiment, this research finds that adding vibrotactile feedback to m‐channels increases consumers' anticipated product satisfaction, but not purchase confidence. Moreover, perceived ownership mediates this effect, because the vibrations offer a sense of control over the product during the purchase process. This research makes several contributions. First, it documents that control elicited via vibrations offers an alternative means to psychological ownership, as opposed to imagining touch. Second, we offer this haptic route as a means to achieve the stimulation motivation driving perceived ownership, different from prior visual routes. Third, it potentially reconciles literature conflicts regarding the effect of vibrotactile feedback on consumer decision making.

Effect of Vibrotactile Feedback on the Control of the Interaction Force of a Supernumerary Robotic Arm

Supernumerary robotic limbs are mainly designed to augment the physical capabilities of able-bodied individuals, in a wide range of contexts from body support to surgery. When they are worn as wearable devices, they naturally provide inherent feedback due to the mechanical coupling with the human body. The user can, thus, perceive the interaction with the environment by relying on a combination of visual and inherent feedback. However, these can be inefficient in accomplishing complex tasks, particularly in the case of visual occlusion or variation in the environment stiffness. Here, we investigated whether, in a force-regulation task using a wearable supernumerary robotic arm (SRA), additional vibrotactile feedback can increase the control performance of participants compared to the inherent feedback. Additionally, to make the scenario more realistic, we introduced variations in the SRA’s kinematic posture and in the environment stiffness. Notably, our findings revealed a statistically significant improvement in user performance over all the evaluated metrics while receiving additional vibrotactile feedback. Compared to inherent feedback alone, the additional vibrotactile feedback allowed participants to exert the required force faster (p < 0.01), to maintain it for longer (p < 0.001), and with lower errors (p < 0.001). No discernible effects related to the SRA’s posture or environment stiffness were observed. These results proved the benefits of providing the user with additional vibrotactile feedback to convey the SRA’s force during interaction tasks.

Effects of vibrotactile feedback on yoga practice.

Participating in physical exercise using remote platforms is challenging for people with vision impairment due to their lack of vision. Thus, there is a need to provide nonvisual feedback to this population to improve the performance and safety of remote exercise. In this study, the effects of different nonvisual types of feedback (verbal, vibrotactile, and combined verbal and vibrotactile) for movement correction were tested with 22 participants with normal vision to investigate the feasibility of the feedback system and pilot tested with four participants with impaired vision. The study with normal-vision participants found that nonvisual feedback successfully corrected an additional 11.2% of movements compared to the no-feedback condition. Vibrotactile feedback was the most time-efficient among other types of feedback in correcting poses. Participants with normal vision rated multimodal feedback as the most strongly preferred modality. In a pilot test, participants with impaired vision also showed a similar trend. Overall, the study found providing vibrotactile (or multimodal) feedback during physical exercise to be an effective way of improving exercise performance. Implications for future training platform development with vibrotactile or multimodal feedback for people with impaired vision are discussed.

Effects of Vibrotactile Feedback on Sedentary Behaviors in Adults: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

No effective and easily implemented intervention strategies for reducing sedentary behavior have been established. This pilot trial (UMIN000024372) investigated whether vibrotactile feedback reduces sedentary behavior. Twenty-six adults aged 30–69 years who were sedentary ≥8 h/day were randomly assigned to control (n = 13) or vibration (n = 13) groups. Participants wore a monitor 9 h daily for seven-day periods at baseline (week zero), during the intervention (weeks one, three, five, and seven), and after the intervention (week eight). During the eight-week intervention, vibration-group participants were notified by a vibration through the monitor whenever continuous sedentary time reached ≥30 min; they also received weekly reports of their sedentary patterns. Control-group participants did not receive feedback. The primary outcome was change in total sedentary time. Changes in longer bouts of sedentary time (≥35 min) were also assessed. No significant difference was found in the change in total sedentary time (control: −17.5 min/9 h, vibration: −9.1 min/9 h; p = 0.42). Although no significant differences were observed in sedentary time in longer bouts, vibration-group participants exhibited significantly lower sedentary time (–21.6 min/9 h, p = 0.045). Thus, vibration feedback does not appear to offer any advantages in reducing total sedentary time.

Transfemoral amputee’s limit of stability and sway analysis during weight shifting exercise with a vibrotactile feedback system

Amputation in the transfemoral amputee (TFA) results in loss of sensory feedback of the amputated limb and therefore results in the poor postural stability. To assess the postural stability, the limit of stability (LOS) is a reliable parameter. In this study, we have investigated the effect of vibrotactile feedback (VF) on the LOS during the weight shifting exercise (WSE) for a TFA. The data of centre of pressure (COP) during WSE was collected from five TFA and five healthy individuals using a zebris force plate. The VF was provided on the amputated/healthy limb’s anterior and posterior part of the stump/thigh during forward and backward WSE, respectively. A customized foot insole with 24 embedded dielectric sensors was used to drive the vibratory motor. The effect of VF was analyzed by pre and post-test. Results show that with the use of VF, TFA significantly improved (t-test, p < .05) the sound limb’s LOS during forward WSE. Also, ANOVA analysis between WSE divisions shows that the prosthetic limb does not follow the path of WSE. We further examine the spectral power using the Welch method to determine the dominant sway frequency of COP. It shows a decreased frequency between 0.5–2 Hz in the healthy and decreased frequency between 0–0.5 Hz and >2 Hz in the amputee with VF. It concluded that VF could improve the LOS of TFA during WSE which ultimately leads to postural stability enhancement.

Effect of Vibrotactile Feedback through the Floor on Social Presence in an Immersive Virtual Environment

Effect of Vibrotactile Feedback through the Floor on Social Presence in an Immersive Virtual Environment

Immediate Effects of Vibrotactile Feedback on Postural Sway in Healthy Older Adults

Immediate Effects of Vibrotactile Feedback on Postural Sway in Healthy Older Adults

Navigation by vibration: Effects of vibrotactile feedback on a navigation task

In the background of spatial orientation in a navigation task, this study investigated the effect of frequency, duration and amplitude of vibrotactile feedback when it provided primary information modality. Multiple levels of each parameter were designed for an experiment conducted with 18 participants. Their performance was evaluated via number of errors, task completion time, annoyance level, and user preference. Result showed that medium level of frequency and duration was more preferred and can produce better performance. However, optimal amplitude level varied by individuals and also interacted with frequency. The paper summarized a set of design guidelines, which could be used to the design of future user interface with vibrotactile feedback. The study should provide great empirical data and meaningful insight for the design of vibrotactile feedback for future applications. Relevance to industryThe paper evaluated the vibrotactile interfaces and summarized a set of design guidelines, which could help to speed up the commercialization and industrial application of vibrotactile user interface.

Effects of vibrotactile feedback on human learning of arm motions.

Tactile cues generated from lightweight, wearable actuators can help users learn new motions by providing immediate feedback on when and how to correct their movements. We present a vibrotactile motion guidance system that measures arm motions and provides vibration feedback when the user deviates from a desired trajectory. A study was conducted to test the effects of vibrotactile guidance on a subject's ability to learn arm motions. Twenty-six subjects learned motions of varying difficulty with both visual (V), and visual and vibrotactile (VVT) feedback over the course of four days of training. After four days of rest, subjects returned to perform the motions from memory with no feedback. We found that augmenting visual feedback with vibrotactile feedback helped subjects reduce the root mean square (rms) angle error of their limb significantly while they were learning the motions, particularly for 1DOF motions. Analysis of the retention data showed no significant difference in rms angle errors between feedback conditions.

The effect of vibrotactile feedback on postural sway during locomotor activities

BackgroundAlthough significant progress has been achieved in developing sensory augmentation methods to improve standing balance, attempts to extend this research to locomotion have been quite limited in scope. The goal of this study was to characterize the effects of two real-time feedback displays on locomotor performance during four gait-based tasks ranging in difficulty.MethodsSeven subjects with vestibular deficits used a trunk-based vibrotactile feedback system that provided real-time feedback regarding their medial-lateral (M/L) trunk tilt when they exceeded a subject-specific predefined tilt threshold during slow and self-paced walking, walking along a narrow walkway, and walking on a foam surface. Two feedback display configurations were evaluated: the continuous display provided real-time continuous feedback of trunk tilt, and the gated display provided feedback for 200 ms during the period immediately following heel strike. The root-mean-square (RMS) trunk tilt and percentage of time below the tilt thresholds were calculated for all locomotor tasks.ResultsUse of continuous feedback resulted in significant decreases in M/L trunk tilt and increases in percentage times below the tilt thresholds during narrow and foam trials. The gated display produced generally smaller changes.ConclusionsThis preliminary study demonstrated that use of continuous vibrotactile feedback during challenging locomotor tasks allowed subjects with vestibular deficits to significantly decrease M/L RMS trunk tilt. Analysis of the results also showed that continuous feedback was superior.

Protective stepping response in Parkinsonian patients and the effect of vibrotactile feedback

The objectives of this study were (1) to characterize protective stepping responses to unpredictable forward/backward postural perturbation in Parkinson's disease (PD) and (2) to assess whether vibrotactile cues of the impending fall improve the stepping response. Twenty mild PD patients, 7 advanced PD patients, and 17 age-matched controls stood on a platform moving unpredictably forward and backward, requiring a protective step to maintain balance. Direction-coded vibrotactile cues, triggered by leg tilt, were provided to prompt step generation. All subjects showed quicker reaction time, shorter steps, and smaller total trunk displacement when stepping backward than when stepping forward. Advanced PD patients took shorter, slower, and an increased number of protective steps. The only abnormality observed in mild PD patients was slightly slower backward steps. Vibrotactile feedback reduced the amount of trunk displacement observed before taking a protective step but did not improve any abnormality in PD patients. Early PD patients had near-normal protective stepping responses to unpredictable perturbations, but advanced patients made slow and short steps both forward and backward. Given that latencies were preserved even in unpredictable conditions, step slowness and hypometria are the primary abnormalities of the stepping response in PD. As voluntary locomotor stepping in PD is reported to improve with sensory feedback, the lack of such improvement in our study implies that additional sensory cues cannot help automatic reflex-like stepping reactions in PD patients.

Effects of vibrotactile feedback upon the production of co‐articulated CV syllables

Eight profoundly deaf and deaf/blind children are receiving ongoing training in the production of speech sounds. An electrocutaneous sensory aid, worn around the abdomen, displays the speech sounds of the teacher and the child as vibrotactile patterns. In the first training activity, the syllables /ba (ba)/, /bee (bi)/ and /boo (bu)/ were presented (1) as a 2‐s sustained utterance (to assess the child's ability to control articulators in sustaining a vowel), and (2) as a three‐syllable utterance, repeated at a 3/s rate (approximating the rate of normal speech). Training stimuli were presented by videotape, and the children's responses were recorded and spectro‐graphically analyzed, over a training period of three weeks. An analysis was made of the suprasegmental features of pitch and rhythm, as well as the articulatory features of transition and formant structure. The children's performance was compared under two conditions, one while wearing their hearing aids plus the vibrotactile belt, the other with hearing aids alone. [Work supported by NIH.]