Audio-tactile stimulation: a tool to improve health and well-being?

Abstract

Stimulation of the tactile sense or the hearing sense can be used to improve a person’s health and well-being. For example, to make someone relax, feel better or sleep better. In this position paper, we present the concept of auditory–tactile stimulation for health and well-being. Through carefully selected audio–tactile stimuli a person’s bodily, mental and emotional state may be influenced. The state of the art is described and its limitations are indicated. Then, a vision is presented on how auditory–tactile stimulation could be beneficial in several application domains. Three specific research areas are identified: identifying mechanisms of perception of auditory–tactile stimuli, methods for automatic conversions between audio and tactile domains and automated analysis of human bio-signals and behaviour for adapting the stimulation optimally to the user.