Abstract—Sensory augmentation operates by synthesizing new information then displaying it through an existing sensory channel and can be used to help people with impaired sensing or to assist in tasks where sensory information is limited or sparse, for example, when navigating in a low visibility environment. This paper presents the design of a 2nd generation head-mounted vibrotactile interface as a sensory augmentation prototype designed to present navigation commands that are intuitive, informative and minimize information overload. We describe an experiment in a structured environment in which the user navigates along a virtual wall whilst the position and orientation of the user’s head is tracked in real time by a motion capture system. Navigation commands in the form of vibrotactile feedback are presented according to the user’s distance from the virtual wall and their head orientation. We test the four possible combinations of two command presentation modes (continuous, discrete) and two command types (recurring, single). We evaluated the effectiveness of this ‘tactile language’ according to the users’ walking speed and the smoothness of their trajectory parallel to the virtual wall. Results showed that recurring continuous commands allowed users to navigate with lowest route deviation and highest walking speed. In addition, subjects preferred recurring continuous commands over other commands.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)