Musical vibrotactile feedback
David Birnbaum · eScholarship@McGill (McGill) · 2007
This thesis discusses the prospect of integrating vibrotactile feedback into digital musical instruments. A holistic approach is taken, considering the role of new instruments in electronic music, as well as the concept of touch in culture and experience. Research about the human biological systems that enable vibrotactile perception is reviewed, with a special focus on its relevance to music. Out of this review, an approach to vibration synthesis is developed that integrates the current understanding of human vibrotactile perception. An account of musical vibrotactile interaction design is presented, which includes the implementation of a vibrotactile feedback synthesizer and the construction of two hardware prototypes that display musical vibration.