Sensations on the body: Varying duration, overlap, ratios and placement on dynamic vibrotactile patterns

Prior research revealed that people have strong responses to various vibrotactile patterns acting on the trunk of the body. Moreover, they experienced patterns on the back and around the waist more positively compared to those on the front or mid-front of the body. In this study, we use a vibrotactile vest designed according to Traditional Chinese principles to identify the effect of individual factors in the patterns. We examined variations of duration, overlap, placement and repetition. Our research questions are: 'What influenced peoples' perception of the sensations?' 'How can we design for the wearer with specific sensations in mind?' As an example, we found using actuators with the same placement but varying the ratio between duration and overlap gave wearers' opposing perceived effects. One ratio was perceived as calming/feel good (0.5), another as activating (>0.5), another again as annoying (<0.5). We contribute a set of vibrotactile parameter recommendations where by varying duration, overlap and duration-to-overlap ratio parameters, we directed sensations on the body. These parameter specifications act as guidelines for developing wearable computing solutions when designing for specific sensations on the wearer's body.