• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.355-361
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• 2013

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the gender-differences in vibrotactile responses(sensitivity and displeasure) of residual forearm simulated by vibration stimulation in upper limb(trans-radial) amputees. Background: Several studies have reported that vibration stimulation using the haptic vibrator is one the most effective methods for delivering sensation to an amputees. However, few studies have reported the perception to haptic vibratory stimulus, particularly sensitivity and displeasure. Method: We set up a custom-made vibration stimulation system that included 6 actuators(3 medial parts and 3 lateral parts) and a graphical user interface(GUI)-based acquisition system to investigate changes in residual somatosensory sensibility and displeasure in the forearm of upper limb(trans-radial) amputees. Vibration actuators were attached at the 25%-point on the proximal forearm. Stimulation with 32Hz, 64Hz, or 149Hz of frequency was used for the sensitivity tests and with 32~257Hz of frequency was used for the discomfort experiments. The subjective responses were evaluated on a 10 point scale. Results: The results showed that vibrotactile sensory perception in male amputees were higher than that in female amputees. In male amputees, the response at lateral area of forearm was the most sensitive than medial area; but, female amputees showed similar sensitive areas. Subjects did not experience any discomfort during vibrotactile stimuli. Conclusion: Vibrotactile response in the amputees was dependent on gender as well as area stimulated by vibration. Application: The results might contribute to develop the vibrotactile feedback system for the amputees.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.1102-1113
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• 2018

Vibrotactile feedback is widely used in designing non-visual interactions on mobile phones, such as message notification, non-visual reading, and blind use. In this work, novel vibrotactile codes are presented to implement a non-visual text reading system for mobile phones. The 26 letters of the English alphabet are formed in an index table with four rows and seven columns, and each letter is mapped using the codes of vibrations. Two kinds of vibrotactile codes are designed with the actuator's on and off states and with specific lengths (short and long) assigned to each state. To improve the efficiency of tactile perception and user satisfaction, three user experiments are conducted. The first experiment explores the maximum number of continuous vibrations and minimum vibration time of the actuator's on and off states that the human can perceive. The second experiment determines the minimum interval between continuous vibrations. The vibrotactile reading system is designed and evaluated in the third experiment according to the results of the two preceding experiments. Results show that the character reading accuracy reaches 91.7% and the character reading speed is approximately 617.8 ms. Our method has better reading efficiency and is easier to learn than the traditional Braille coding method.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.79-87
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• 2021

This study suggests a design process for vibrotactile interface that can apply haptic perception factors reflecting human tactile mechanisms. This process consists of 4 stages: the haptic sense requirement analysis stage, the haptic element analysis stage, the haptic perception factor analysis stage, the haptic requirement detailed design, and the prototype implementation stage. The advantage of this design process is that unnecessary tasks can be excluded in deriving and implementing user requirements, by applying haptic perception factor analysis, and the biggest feature is that research results on ergonomic mechanisms can be reflected in the haptic design, completes prototype development simultaneously while determining the haptic requirements statement by performing user evaluation, usability testing, and haptic feature optimization tasks simultaneously. This design process includes all stages from user requirements to haptic function detailed design and prototype implementation, so it is expected that general developers who lack expertise in haptic will also be able to design user-centered designs, enabling design and implementation of haptic functions at a certain level.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.29 no.7
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• pp.705-710
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• 2012

Research involving discomfort or pain related to haptic vibratory stimulation the for prosthesis users of myoelectrical hand is very lacking. Our objective of this study was to evaluate the displeasure and sensitivity of areas in forearm using vibration stimulation system between upper limb amputees and non-amputees. Twenty transradial amputees and forty non-amputees (20 youth, 20 elderly) were involved. We set up custom-made vibration stimulation system including eight actuators (4 medial parts and 4 lateral parts) and GUI-based acquisition system, to investigate changes of residual somatosensory sensibility and displeasure at proximal 25% of forearm. Eight vibration actuators were attached to the circumference of proximal 25% point of forearm at regular intervals. Sensitivity tests were used to stimulate the 120Hz and discomfort experiment was used to 37 ~ 223Hz. The subjective responses were evaluated by 10 point scale. The results showed that both groups were similar in sensitive areas. Response at around of radius was most sensitive than other areas in all subjects. Elderly group do not appear discomfort of vibrotactile; however, youth group and amputee presented discomfort of vibrotactile. Prosthesis with a vibrotactile feedback system should be developed considering the sensitivity. Furthermore, Future studies should investigate the scope of application of that principle.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.1301-1302
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• 2012

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2024

As virtual reality technology became popular, a high demand emerged for natural and efficient interaction with the virtual environment. Mid-air manipulation is one of the solutions to such needs, letting a user manipulate a virtual object in a 3D virtual space. In this paper, we focus on manipulating a remote virtual object while visually displaying the object and providing tactile information on the object's weight. We developed two types of wearable interfaces that can provide cutaneous or vibrotactile feedback on the virtual object weight to the user's fingertips. Human perception of the remote virtual object weight during manipulation was evaluated by conducting a psychophysics experiment. The results indicate a significant effect of haptic feedback on the perceived weight of the virtual object during manipulation.

• Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.900-909
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• 2007

This paper describes an experiment on the evaluation of human sensibility by monitoring responses to changes In the frequency and amplitude of a tactile display system. Preliminary tasks were performed to obtain effective adjectives concerning texture perception. The number of collected adjectives was originally 33. This number of adjectives was reduced to 14 by a suitability survey that asked whether an adjective is suitable for expressing a texture feeling. Finally after performing a semantic similarity evaluation, the number of adjectives was further reduced to ten and these ten were used in the main experiment. In the main experiment, selected sandpaper types and 15 selected combinations of frequencies and amplitudes of a tactile display were utilized to quantitatively evaluate the ten adjectives using a bipolar seven-point scale. The data show that a relationship exists between the independent variables(frequency, amplitude, and grit site) and the dependent variable(perceived texture). That is, the change of frequency and amplitude is directly related to perceived roughness or essential elements of human tactile sensitivity found in the preliminary experiment.