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Book ChapterDOI

Perception of Vibrotactile Cues in Musical Performance

TL;DR: In this article, a review of the previous literature on vibrotactile perception in musical performance is presented, and the authors suggest that studies on active touch psychophysics are needed to inform the design of haptic musical interfaces and better understand the relevance of hapt cues in musical performances.
Abstract: We suggest that studies on active touch psychophysics are needed to inform the design of haptic musical interfaces and better understand the relevance of haptic cues in musical performance. Following a review of the previous literature on vibrotactile perception in musical performance, two recent experiments are reported. The first experiment investigated how active finger-pressing forces affect vibration perception, finding significant effects of vibration type and force level on perceptual thresholds. Moreover, the measured thresholds were considerably lower than those reported in the literature, possibly due to the concurrent effect of large (unconstrained) finger contact areas, active pressing forces, and long-duration stimuli. The second experiment assessed the validity of these findings in a real musical context by studying the detection of vibrotactile cues at the keyboard of a grand and an upright piano. Sensitivity to key vibrations in fact not only was highest at the lower octaves and gradually decreased toward higher pitches; it was also significant for stimuli having spectral peaks of acceleration similar to those of the first experiment, i.e., below the standard sensitivity thresholds measured for sinusoidal vibrations under passive touch conditions.

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Citations
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01 Nov 2005
TL;DR: In this paper, high-resolution fMRI of the macaque monkey was used to quantify the integration of auditory broadband noise and tactile stimulation of hand and foot in anaesthetized animals.
Abstract: Summary To form a coherent percept of the environment, our brain combines information from different senses. Such multisensory integration occurs in higher association cortices; but supposedly, it also occurs in early sensory areas. Confirming the latter hypothesis, we unequivocally demonstrate supra-additive integration of touch and sound stimulation at the second stage of the auditory cortex. Using high-resolution fMRI of the macaque monkey, we quantified the integration of auditory broad-band noise and tactile stimulation of hand and foot in anaesthetized animals. Integration was found posterior to and along the lateral side of the primary auditory cortex in the caudal auditory belt. Integration was stronger for temporally coincident stimuli and obeyed the principle of inverse effectiveness: greater enhancement for less effective stimuli. These findings demonstrates that multisensory integration occurs early and close to primary sensory areas and—because it occurs in anaesthetized animals—suggests that this integration is mediated by preattentive bottom-up mechanisms.

318 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A user-centered design methodology was adopted to develop a novel class of IoT devices that are designed to address creative communication issues among performers in electronic music practice and provide evidence that musical haptic wearables can be an effective medium of communication in the context of electronic music performances.
Abstract: Communication among performers is a fundamental aspect in music performance. A large number of electronic music instruments based on tangible and screen-based interfaces require a focused visual attention from performers while they are controlled. In certain stage and artistic configurations, this may be an obstacle to face-to-face creative interactions between coperformers and their collaborators. To address these issues, we adopted a user-centered design methodology to develop a novel class of IoT devices that we term musical haptic wearables for performers. We conducted a co-design workshop with 10 electronic musicians using focus-group discussions and the bootlegging technique. This workshop identified numerous creative communication issues among performers in electronic music practice and resulted in mock-up prototypes. We then developed three chest-, foot-, and arm-worn haptic wearables respectively for coperformer, performer–conductor, and performer–sound-engineer interactions. The wearables were assessed with 25 participants using a mixed-methods approach. High accuracies (70%–100%) were obtained for musical actions expected after instructions wirelessly communicated via tactile signals. The results provide evidence that musical haptic wearables can be an effective medium of communication in the context of electronic music performances. More challenges were identified regarding size and placement of the devices on the body, interferences with concurrent vibrations generated by music signals, limitations on the range of creative controls, and a required training curve.

26 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper evaluates cost-effective and portable solutions allowing for independent control of frequency and amplitude over a wide frequency bandwidth and low harmonic distortion, so that flexible and high-quality vibrotactile feedback can be displayed and compares the result of equalization by performing sinesweep measurements on the implementation.
Abstract: The integration of vibrotactile feedback in digital music instruments (DMIs) is thought to improve the instrument’s response and make it more suitable for expert musical interactions. However, given the extreme requirements of musical performances, there is a need for solutions allowing for independent control of frequency and amplitude over a wide frequency bandwidth (40–1000 Hz) and low harmonic distortion, so that flexible and high-quality vibrotactile feedback can be displayed. In this paper, we evaluate cost-effective and portable solutions that meet these requirements. We first measure the magnitude–frequency and harmonic distortion characteristics of two vibrotactile actuators, where the harmonic distortion is quantified in the form of total harmonic distortion (THD). The magnitude–frequency and THD characteristics in two unloaded cases (actuator suspended freely or placed on a sandbag) are observed to be largely identical, with minor attenuation for actuators placed on the sandbag. Loading the actuator (when placed in a DMI) brings resonant features to its magnitude–frequency characteristics, increasing the output THD and imposing a dampening effect. To equalize the system’s frequency response, an autoregressive method that automatically estimates minimum-phase filter parameters is introduced, which by design, remains stable upon inversion A practical use of this method is demonstrated by implementing vibrotactile feedback in the poly vinyl chloride chassis of an unfinished DMI, the t-Stick. We finally compare the result of equalization by performing sinesweep measurements on the implementation and discuss the degree of equalization achieved using it.

9 citations


Cites background from "Perception of Vibrotactile Cues in ..."

  • ...1 kHz, 48 kHz, or higher), especially in musical research and development [5,8,10,30,31]....

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  • ...Nevertheless, subsequent studies suggest that this threshold of perception could be lower under the influence of finger pressing forces [8]....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a subjective assessment was conducted that measured how the presence and type of vibration affect the perceived quality of the device and various attributes related to the playing experience and the perceived potential for musical expressivity.
Abstract: An advanced multi-touch sensor surface aimed at musical expression was recently equipped by the authors with interactive multi-point localized vibrotactile feedback. Using such interface, a subjective assessment was conducted that measured how the presence and type of vibration affect the perceived quality of the device and various attributes related to the playing experience. Two clearly distinct sound settings each with three vibrotactile feedback strategies were tested. At each trial, the task was to play freely while comparing two related setups which used the same sound setting and differed only in the presence/absence of vibration. Independent of the sound setting, as compared to the respective non-vibrating setups, vibrations conveying frequency and amplitude dynamics cues coherent with the player’s gesture and/or sonic feedback had the most positive effect. Vibrotactile feedback especially improved the enjoyment of playing and the perceived potential for musical expressivity.

4 citations

01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated how auditory and haptic information concerning objects hardness is integrated for the purpose of controlling the velocity with which we strike an object and found that the haptic changes could be congruent (e.g., both increased in hardness) or incongruent.
Abstract: We investigated how auditory and haptic information concerning objects hardness is integrated for the purpose of controlling the velocity with which we strike an object. Our experimental manipulations and data analyses considered a variety of factors that should be integrated in a theory of multisensory perception: expertise of the perceiver; context (unimodal vs. multimodal); inter-modality congruence; inter-participants agreement in sensory weighting; performance. On each trial, participants struck a virtual object with a constant target velocity and received feedback on correctness. When the performance criterion was reached, feedback was eliminated, the auditory and/or haptic hardness of the struck object were changed, and the e ects on subsequent striking velocity and performance were measured. In unimodal trials only the haptic or auditory display was presented. In multisensory trials, the audio-haptic changes could be congruent (e.g., both increased in hardness) or incongruent. We recruited participants with di erent levels of expertise with the task: percussionists, nonpercussionist musicians and nonmusicians. For both modalities, striking velocity increased with decreasing hardness, and vice versa. With the vast majority of participants, changes in haptic hardness were perceptually more relevant because they in- uenced striking velocity to a greater degree than did changes in auditory hardness. The perceptual weighting of auditory information was robust to context variations (unimodal vs. multimodal), independent of expertise, uniform across participants and modulated by audio-haptic congruence. The perceptual weighting of haptic information was modulated by context and expertise, was more varied across participants and was robust to changes in audio-haptic congruence. Performance in velocity tracking was more strongly a ected by haptic than by auditory information, was not at its best in a multisensory context and was independent of information congruence.
References
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Book
01 Jan 1966
TL;DR: This book discusses statistical decision theory and sensory processes in signal detection theory and psychophysics and describes how these processes affect decision-making.
Abstract: Book on statistical decision theory and sensory processes in signal detection theory and psychophysics

11,820 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A broad class of up‐down methods used in psychoacoustics with due emphasis on the related problems of parameter estimation and the efficient placing of observations is described, including examples where conventional techniques are inapplicable.
Abstract: During the past decade a number of variations in the simple up‐down procedure have been used in psychoacoustic testing. A broad class of these methods is described with due emphasis on the related problems of parameter estimation and the efficient placing of observations. The advantages of up‐down methods are many, including simplicity, high efficiency, robustness, small‐sample reliability, and relative freedom from restrictive assumptions. Several applications of these procedures in psychoacoustics are described, including examples where conventional techniques are inapplicable.

5,306 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Sep 2008
TL;DR: It is shown why this is the case and offered a simple correction that makes the expected size of Cousineau confidence intervals the same as that of Loftus and Masson confidence intervals.
Abstract: Presenting confidence intervals around means is a common method of expressing uncertainty in data. Loftus and Masson (1994) describe confidence intervals for means in within‐subjects designs. These confidence intervals are based on the ANOVA mean squared error. Cousineau (2005) presents an alternative to the Loftus and Masson method, but his method produces confidence intervals that are smaller than those of Loftus and Masson. I show why this is the case and offer a simple correction that makes the expected size of Cousineau confidence intervals the same as that of Loftus and Masson confidence intervals.

1,630 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Preliminary results indicate that the cross-modal matching of these novel preceptions is possible even for a naive observer, and that practice can bring about errorless judgments in all observers so far tested.
Abstract: ed by solid geometry (slant, curvature, edge, corner) did not seem any more complex to introspection than the solely visible features of things abstracted by plane geometry (triangle, square, circle). A new set of shapes has now been devised for the study of object-perception by active touch. They consist of ten solid sculptures, or free-forms, made of plastic, the surfaces being curved, with no planes, edges, or corners. They are intended to be felt with two hands (and are called "feelies"). Approximately one-half of each surface (the "rear") is convex; the other half (the "front") consists of six convexities with intermediate saddles or concavities. In general, there are five protuberances around a central protuberance, but no object is symmetrical, either radially or bilaterally. They cannot, therefore, be distinguished from one another by counting. Each is readily discriminated from every other by vision of the "front" surface. They are also mutually distinguishable by feeling, although with some error and hesitation for an unpracticed observer. Replicas of the ten objects are available, made from the same molds. It is therefore possible to present one object to the hands and the same or a different object to the eyes simultaneously. Preliminary results indicate that the cross-modal matching of these novel preceptions is possible even for a naive observer, and that practice can bring about errorless judgments in all observers so far tested. Passivity and activity in touch and vision. In passive touch the individual makes no voluntary movements. Similarly, in passive vision he makes no eye movements, which means that he must voluntarily fixate his eyes on a point specified by the experimenter. Neither state is natural to an individual. In a tactual situation, the observer will explore with his fingers unless prevented and, in a visual situation, he will explore the focussable light, fixating, accommodating, converging and pursuing. Both senses are normally active. The passive stimulation of the skin or the retina is necessary for the study of the receptorcells in the skin or the retina, but the experiences resulting are atypical. In active touching and looking the observer reports experiences of a quite different order. They correspond to

1,267 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is concluded that the four channels work in conjunction at threshold to create an operating range for the perception of vibration that extends from at least 0.4 to greater than 500 Hz and may be determined by the combined inputs from four channels.
Abstract: Although previous physiological and anatomical experiments have identified four afferent fiber types (PC, RA, SA II, and SA I) in glabrous (nonhairy) skin of the human somatosensory periphery, only three have been shown to mediate tactile (mechanoreceptive) sensation. Psychophysical evidence that four channels (P, NP I, NP II, and NP III) do, indeed, participate in the perceptual process is presented. In a series of experiments involving selective masking of the various channels, modification of the skin‐surface temperature, and testing cutaneous sensitivity down to very low‐vibratory frequencies, the fourth psychophysical channel (NP III) is defined. Based on these experiments and previous work from our laboratory, it is concluded that the four channels work in conjunction at threshold to create an operating range for the perception of vibration that extends from at least 0.4 to greater than 500 Hz. Each of the four channels appears to mediate specific portions of the overall threshold‐frequency characteristic. Selection of appropriate neural‐response criteria from previously published physiological data and correlation of their derived frequency characteristics with the four psychophysical channels indicates that each channel has its own physiological substrate: P channel and PC fibers, NP I channel and RA fibers, NP II channel and SA II fibers, and NP III channel and SA I fibers. These channels partially overlap in their absolute sensitivities, making it likely that suprathreshold stimuli may activate two or more of the channels at the same time. Thus the perceptual qualities of touch may be determined by the combined inputs from four channels.

885 citations