Tactile crescendos and sforzandos: applying musical techniques to tactile icon design

Brown, L.M., Brewster, S.A. and Purchase, H.C. (2006) Tactile crescendos and sforzandos: applying musical techniques to tactile icon design. In: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Montréal, Québec, Canada, 22-27 April 2006, pp. 610-615. ISBN 1595932984 (doi: 10.1145/1125451.1125578)

Abstract

Tactile icons (Tactons) are structured vibrotactile messages which can be used for non visual information display. Information is encoded in Tactons by manipulating vibrotactile parameters. This research investigates the possibilities of applying musical techniques to tactile icon design in order to define such parameters. Tactile versions of musical dynamics were created by manipulating the amplitude of vibrations to create increasing, decreasing, and level stimuli and an experiment was carried out to test perception of these stimuli. Identification rates of 92%-100% indicate that these tactile dynamics can be identified and distinguished from each other, and that tactile dynamics could be used in Tacton design.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Additional Information: This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution.
• Keywords: non-visual interaction, tactile icons, tactons
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Purchase, Dr Helen and Brewster, Professor Stephen
• Authors: Brown, L.M., Brewster, S.A., and Purchase, H.C.
• Subjects: Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science; Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Computer software; M Music and Books on Music > M Music
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
• Publisher: ACM Press
• ISBN: 1595932984
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2006 ACM Press
• First Published: First published in CHI '06 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher