Development of Tactile-Proprioceptive Display and Effect Evaluation of Local Area Vibration Presentation Method

Abstract

We propose a new method of presenting two-dimensional information, such as figures and graphs, on a tactile display so that visually impaired people are able to perceive them quickly and accurately. The new presentation method is developed for a tactile-proprioceptive display, which can present information on not only conventional “concave–convex” tactile display, but also vibration presentation in arbitrary area on a tactile display and mechanical leading presentation by mechanically leading user’s fingers using haptic device. In this paper, we outline the abovementioned two presentation method and the developed tactile-prop display, and objectively evaluate the effects of the local area vibration presentation method as an integral part of the tactile-prop display in comparison with the conventional “concave–convex” presentation method. We conducted experiments to evaluate the effects of the proposed local area vibration presentation method using two typical content patterns. In Experiment 1, discreetly dispersed objects are searched, and in Experiment 2, the cross graphs of line segments are distinguished and perceived. The experiments have proved that the method is effective in reducing search and cognitive time as well as identifying the correct cognition of cross graphs, as compared to the “concave–convex” tactile presentation method.