The user experience of distal arm-level vibrotactile feedback for interactions with virtual versus physical displays

Abstract Haptic feedback, a natural component of our everyday interactions in the physical world, requires careful design in virtual environments. However, feedback location can vary from the fingertip to the finger, hand, and arm due to heterogeneous input/output technology used for virtual environments, from joysticks to controllers, gloves, armbands, and vests. In this work, we report on the user experience of touch interaction with virtual displays when vibrotactile feedback is delivered on the finger, wrist, and forearm. In a first controlled experiment with fourteen participants and virtual displays rendered through a head-mounted device, we report a user experience characterized by high perceived enjoyment, confidence, efficiency, and integration as well as low perceived distraction, difficulty, and confusion. Moreover, we highlight participants’ preferences for vibrotactile feedback on the finger compared to other locations on the arm or through the VR controller, respectively. In a follow-up experiment with fourteen new participants and physical touchscreens, we report a similar preference for the finger, but also specific nuances of the self-reported experience, not observed in the first experiment with virtual displays. Overall, our results depict an enhanced user experience when distal vibrotactile feedback is available over no vibrations at all during interactions with virtual and physical displays, for which we propose future work opportunities for augmented interactions in virtual worlds.