Paper ID: 2404.18972

Impact of whole-body vibrations on electrovibration perception varies with target stimulus duration

Jan D. A. Vuik, Daan M. Pool, Y. Vardar

This study explores the impact of whole-body vibrations induced by external vehicle perturbations, such as aircraft turbulence, on the perception of electrovibration displayed on touchscreens. Electrovibration holds promise as a technology for providing tactile feedback on future touchscreens, addressing usability challenges in vehicle cockpits. However, its performance under dynamic conditions, such as during whole-body vibrations induced by turbulence, still needs to be explored. We measured the absolute detection thresholds of 15 human participants for short- and long-duration electrovibration stimuli displayed on a touchscreen, both in the absence and presence of two types of turbulence motion generated by a motion simulator. Concurrently, we measured participants' applied contact force and finger scan speeds. Significantly higher (38%) absolute detection thresholds were observed for short electrovibration stimuli than for long stimuli. Finger scan speeds in the direction of turbulence, applied forces, and force fluctuation rates increased during whole-body vibrations due to biodynamic feedthrough. As a result, turbulence also significantly increased the perception thresholds, but only for short-duration electrovibration stimuli. The results reveal that whole-body vibrations can impede the perception of short-duration electrovibration stimuli, due to involuntary finger movements and increased normal force fluctuations. Our findings offer valuable insights for the future design of touchscreens with tactile feedback in vehicle cockpits.

Submitted: Apr 29, 2024