Localized Magnification In Vibrotactile Hmds For Accurate Spatial Awareness

Actuator density is an important parameter in the design of vibrotactile displays. When it comes to obstacle detection or navigation tasks, a high number of tactors may provide more information, but not necessarily better performance. Depending on the body site and vibration parameters adopted, high density can make it harder to detect tactors in an array. In this paper, we explore the trade-off between actuator density and precision by comparing three kinds of directional cues. After performing a within-subject naive search task using a head-mounted vibrotactile display, we found that increasing the density of the array locally provides higher performance in detecting directional cues.