A serious game for the learning of vibrotactile feedbacks presented under the foot: How many and how fast?

Abstract

Vision and auditory channels are often used to convey information quickly. Knowing that hearing and vision are generally loaded with plenty of stimuli, the use of touch as an alternative medium of communication could unload those senses. Although many studies have been conducted on hapic icons or tactile icons, few of them have focused on the foot as a medium of communication. This paper particularly investigate the maximum number of vibrotactile messages that could be memorized when displayed under the foot. The method is based on a daily training wrapped in a serious game. In the latter, the avatar must be led to different locations through risky path. Risky events are displayed along the route through vibrotactile feedbacks, which have to be identified by the player. A preliminary experiment shows the usability of this serious game for learning a large number of vibrotactile stimuli. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.