Understanding users' perception of simultaneous tactile textures

Abstract

We study users' perception of simultaneous tactile textures in ultrasonic devices. We investigate how relevant is providing the user with different complementary and simultaneous textures with respect to the different fingers that can be used to touch the surface. We show through a controlled experiment that users are able to distinguish the number of different textures independently of using fingers from one or two hands. However, our findings indicate that users are not able to differentiate between two different textures, that is to correctly identify each of them, when using fingers from the same hand. Based on our findings, we are then able to outline three relevant guidelines to assist multi-finger tactile feedback ergonomic and devices design.