Vibration Feedback Latency Affects Material Perception During Rod Tapping Interactions

We investigated the effect of vibration feedback latency on material perception during a tapping interaction using a rod device. When a user taps a surface, the perception of the material can be modulated by providing a decaying sinusoidal vibration at the moment of contact. To achieve this haptic material augmentation on a touchscreen, a system that can measure the approach velocity and provide vibration with low latency is required. To this end, we developed a touchscreen system that is capable of measuring the approach velocity and providing vibration feedback via a rod device with latency of 0.1 ms. Using this system, we experimentally measured the human detection threshold of the vibration feedback latency adopting a psychophysical approach. We further investigated the effect of latency on the perception of the material using a subjective questionnaire. Results show that the threshold was around 5.5 ms and the latency made the user feel that the surface is soft. In addition, users reported bouncing and denting sensations induced by the latency.