Vibrotactile and vibroacoustic interventions into health and well-being

Vibrotactile and vibroacoustic interventions into health and well-being

We designed a vibrotactile vest with physiological monitoring that interacts with a vibroacoustic urban environment, The Humming Wall. We structured vibrotactile patterns and built a vibrotactile language to convey information and to interact towards and from the vibroacoustic environment in order to elicit sensations and encourage particular body movements. The patterns were structured to emulate calming and activating sensations and to guide or warn the vest wearer. In addition, actions such as swiping or knocking on the wall were replicated on the vest for the vest wearer, and participants could ‘feel’ (vibroacoustically) and hear their own heartbeats and breath rates at the wall. A field trial with 39 participants was conducted over a 5-week period in an urban park. Participants wearing the vest completed a set of defined tasks. We logged use and responses, videoed all activities and conducted interviews and questionnaires post-experiment. The results depicted the participants’ experience, engagement and impressions while wearing the vibrotactile vest and interacting with the wall. The findings show convincing, strong and positive responses to novel interactions between the responsive vibroacoustic environment and the vibrotactile vest. We found compelling evidence to support further exploration into vibrotactile and vibroacoustic solutions for improving health and well-being. The work presented demonstrates the capacity for health and well-being solutions with multiple use cases. Additionally, this work constitutes the first field trial with a vibrotactile wearable responding to and driving vibroacoustic displays with an interactive vibroacoustic environment.