Article
Vibrotactile enhancement of music listening (de)
* Presenting author
Abstract:
Music is heard through the ears and felt through the body, via acoustic and vibrotactile stimulation while the impact of vibration on music perception is still not comprehensively understood. Here, we tested the effects of vibrotactile stimulation on facets of musical engagement and auditory scene analysis (ASA) abilities.Experiments were conducted with young normal-hearing participants sitting in a custom-made chair. Vibrotactile stimulation was provided via the two armrests, the backrest, and seat surface. Audio was presented via headphones. In two conditions, the vibrotactile was congruent with the audio signal, in one condition it was incongruent, and in one condition, vibration was deactivated (headphones-only). To test ASA abilities, listeners detected cued target sounds in 2-second music mixtures. In addition, listeners rated six items of musical engagement (valence, arousal, groove, live-feeling, being part of the music, and preference) after listening to 30-second music excerpts.Results do not suggest an improved accuracy in the ASA task for vibrotactile conditions compared to the headphones-only condition. However, the data shows clear benefits of congruent vibrotactile stimulation on music engagement ratings, especially for the experience of presence, immersion, and groove. Similar approaches may potentially pave the way for the multisensory augmentation of music for hearing-impaired listeners.