Vibration sensitivity thresholds: methodological considerations

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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“…However, this observation is in accordance with other studies [1,29,36,41]. Sources for large variations in sensitivity may be many.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Perception of Vibrotactile Cues in Musical Performance

Fontana

Papetti

Järveläinen

et al. 2018

Springer Series on Touch and Haptic Systems

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“…Our values in the same frequencies were between 104 and 111 µN for OI prostheses, 108 and 123 µN for socket-suspended prostheses, and 95 and 112 µN for the intact limb ( Table 2). Aaserud et al showed higher vibrometric thresholds on the upper than the lower limb in a study assessing 12 nondisabled subjects [30]. The results from Aaserud et al could explain why our values for the intact limb were somewhat lower than those reported by Lundborg et al [29].…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 55%

“…Sensibility studies using vibration as stimuli have shown that mechanoreceptors in the skin can detect vibration frequencies between 0.4 and 800 Hz [27]. However, most published clinical data are from studies on patients with various type of neuropathic conditions [28][29], and in those studies, vibration frequencies between 20 and 250 Hz have been used as stimuli [28][29][30]. In patients with transfemoral amputation (TFA), testing sensation in terms of vibration seems to be one natural choice since vibration is one type of stimuli the patient hypothetically can experience when the prosthetic foot strikes the ground.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vibrotactile evaluation: Osseointegrated versus socket-suspended transfemoral prostheses

Häggström

Hagberg²,

Rydevik³

et al. 2013

J Rehabil Res Dev

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Abstract-This study investigated detection thresholds of vibrometric stimuli in patients with transfemoral amputation supplied with osseointegrated (OI) and socket-suspended prostheses. It included 17 patients tested preoperatively with socket-suspended prostheses and after 2 yr with OI prostheses and a control group (n = 17) using socket-suspended prostheses, evaluated once. Assessments on the prosthetic and intact feet were conducted at six frequencies (8,16,32, 64, 125, and 250 Hz). Furthermore, measurements were conducted to investigate how vibrometric signals are transmitted through a test prosthesis. The results showed that the OI group had improved ability to detect vibrations through the prosthesis at 125 Hz (p = 0.01) at follow-up compared with the preoperative measurement. Compared with the control group, the OI group at follow-up had better ability to detect high frequency vibrations through the prosthesis (125 Hz, p = 0.02; 250 Hz, p = 0.03). The vibrometric signal transmitted through the test prosthesis was reduced at 8, 125, and 250 Hz but was amplified at 16, 32, and 64 Hz. Differences between the OI and the control groups were found in the highest frequencies in which the test prosthesis showed reduction of the vibrometric signal. The study provides insight into the mechanisms of vibration transmission between the exterior and bone-anchored as well as socketsuspended amputation prostheses.

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“…Maeda and Griffin [6] compared acceleration thresholds from various studies addressing passive touch, finding that most of them are in the range 105-115 dB for sinusoidal stimuli ranging from 100 to 250 Hz. The lowest reported acceleration thresholds are 97-98:5 dB, for contact areas (probe size) ranging from 53 to 176:7 mm 2 [30], [31], [32]. It is worth noticing that the widely accepted results by Verrillo [17] report lowest displacement thresholds of approximately À20 dB (re 10 À6 m) at 250 Hz, equivalent to about 105 dB rms acceleration.…”

Section: Interpretation Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Vibrotactile Sensitivity in Active Touch: Effect of Pressing Force

Papetti

Järveläinen

Giordano

et al. 2017

IEEE Trans. Haptics

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An experiment was conducted to study the effects of force produced by active touch on vibrotactile perceptual thresholds. The task consisted in pressing the fingertip against a flat rigid surface that provided either sinusoidal or broadband vibration. Three force levels were considered, ranging from light touch to hard press. Finger contact areas were measured during the experiment, showing positive correlation with the respective applied forces. Significant effects on thresholds were found for vibration type and force level. Moreover, possibly due to the concurrent effect of large (unconstrained) finger contact areas, active pressing forces, and long duration stimuli, the measured perceptual thresholds are considerably lower than what previously reported in the literature.

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Vibration sensitivity thresholds: methodological considerations

Abstract: Aaserud 0, Juntunen J, Matikainen E. Vibration sensitivity thresholds: methodological considerations. sense tests made in a semiquantitative way with a 128 stuning fork.

Cited by 33 publications

References 11 publications

Perception of Vibrotactile Cues in Musical Performance

Perception of Vibrotactile Cues in Musical Performance

Vibrotactile evaluation: Osseointegrated versus socket-suspended transfemoral prostheses

Vibrotactile Sensitivity in Active Touch: Effect of Pressing Force

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