Document Type
Article
Language
eng
Publication Date
10-15-2019
Publisher
MDPI
Source Publication
Applied Sciences
Source ISSN
2076-3417
Abstract
Vibrotactile interfaces are an inexpensive and non-invasive way to provide performance feedback to body-machine interface users. Interfaces for the upper extremity have utilized a multi-channel approach using an array of vibration motors placed on the upper extremity. However, for successful perception of multi-channel vibrotactile feedback on the arm, we need to account for vibration propagation across the skin. If two stimuli are delivered within a small distance, mechanical propagation of vibration can lead to inaccurate perception of the distinct vibrotactile stimuli. This study sought to characterize vibration propagation across the hairy skin of the forearm. We characterized vibration propagation by measuring accelerations at various distances from a source vibration of variable intensities (100–240 Hz). Our results showed that acceleration from the source vibration was present at a distance of 4 cm at intensities >150 Hz. At distances greater than 8 cm from the source, accelerations were reduced to values substantially below vibrotactile discrimination thresholds for all vibration intensities. We conclude that in future applications of vibrotactile interfaces, stimulation sites should be separated by a distance of at least 8 cm to avoid potential interference in vibration perception caused by propagating vibrations.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Shah, Valay A.; Casadio, Maura; Scheidt, Robert A.; and Mrotek, Leigh A., "Vibration Propagation on the Skin of the Arm" (2019). Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications. 617.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/bioengin_fac/617
ADA Accessible Version
Comments
Published version. Applied Sciences, Vol. 9, No. 20 (October 15, 2019): 4329. DOI. © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Used with permission.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).