Tactons: structured tactile messages for non-visual information display

TLDR

Tactile displays are increasingly available for user interfaces, and Tactons—structured, abstract tactile icons—offer a way to convey non‑visual messages, potentially enhancing interaction where visual displays are overloaded, limited, or unavailable, such as for blind users or on mobile and wearable devices. This paper introduces Tactons, describing the parameters used to construct them and exploring possible design approaches. Tactons are built by varying pulse frequency, amplitude, duration, rhythm, and location, allowing designers to encode information through these tactile parameters.

Abstract

Tactile displays are now becoming available in a form that can be easily used in a user interface. This paper describes a new form of tactile output. Tactons, or tactile icons, are structured, abstract messages that can be used to communicate messages non-visually. A range of different parameters can be used for Tacton construction including: frequency, amplitude and duration of a tactile pulse, plus other parameters such as rhythm and location. Tactons have the potential to improve interaction in a range of different areas, particularly where the visual display is overloaded, limited in size or not available, such as interfaces for blind people or in mobile and wearable devices. This paper describes Tactons, the parameters used to construct them and some possible ways to design them. Examples of where Tactons might prove useful in user interfaces are given.