Distilling the underlying dimensions of tactile melodies

Abstract

We created 59 tactile melodies by transforming pieces of music from the auditory domain to the vibrotactile domain. Sixteen observers judged these tactile melodies on a set of 16 characteristics such as 'melodious', 'bombastic', and 'alarming'. By using advanced multivariate statistical methods, we distilled two main underlying dimensions of the tactile melodies. We interpreted these dimensions as intrusiveness and tempo. The results are important to understand the perception of tactile melodies and to support the creation of better distinguishable and recognizable tactile signals for single point tactile displays such as in mobile phones and computer mice.