Experiments on two-handed localization of impact vibrations

Abstract

Impact vibration measurements were employed to determine which signal parameters serve as cues to localize impacts on a bar held with both hands. We considered three types of materials: Aluminum, polyoxymethylene (POM) and wood. Impact localization was better when the vibrations obtained from the wood bar were presented to the participants. We observed that to estimate the impact point participants relied primarily on amplitude and duration differences in the vibrations delivered to their hands. When short sine-wave bursts of varying amplitude and duration were used instead of impact vibrations, participants’ capacity to localize the impacts improved. The goal of this submission is to further assess this observation with data obtained from the conference attendees.