Development and validation of a sensory-substitution technology for music
Carmen Branje, Michael Maksimowski, Gabe Nespoli, Maria Karam, Deborah I. Fels, Frank Russo · Canadian acoustics · 2009
A study was conducted to investigate aspects of music that were perceived through vibration. The first experiment used the method of limits to measure ability to discriminate the frequency of vibrotactile stimuli across a wide range of frequencies common to music. Investigations revealed that the skin needed to have some degree of frequency discrimination ability for vibrotactile music to be a viable undertaking. A single large conactor was placed on the lower back of each of the 4 participants to conduct the investigations. All anchor and comparison stimuli were equated for subjective intensity in a preliminary experiment. Results indicated that frequency difference limens stimuli presented as a single point of vibration on the back fall between 2 and 3 semitones across the range of vibrotactile sensitivity.