VibGrip++: Haptic Device Allows Feeling the Music for Hearing Impaired People
We improved a haptic device called “VibGrip (VG)”. The VG allows feeling the music by vibration for hearing impaired people. This device converts audio signal into vibrations that can be felt with the use of the 5 fingers. With 5 actuators, it is possible
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Abstract We improved a haptic device called “VibGrip (VG)”. The VG allows feeling the music by vibration for hearing impaired people. This device converts audio signal into vibrations that can be felt with the use of the 5 fingers. With 5 actuators, it is possible to feel the different musical part on each finger. The past version was only providing vibrations. “VibGrip++ (VG+)” has 5 pressure sensors it detects how strong grasping the device. This system allows controlling the intensity of each finger’s vibration and also controlling filter-effect intuitively. With this function, people with hearing impaired can feel the vibration of each musical part more clearly and enjoy in the concert. Keywords Audio-tactile interfaces
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Hearing impaired
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Sensory substitution
1 Introduction There is a wide range of research about sensory substitution including feel the sound by tactile stimuli. For instance, presenting pitch of the sound on the tip of finger like Braille patterns or transferring rhythms through vibrations [1–3]. A tactile vocoder [4] that allows listening to audio with vibration arrays placed on the fingers or a haptic chair [5] used for speech training that allows one to feel the vibration stimulation by sitting on a chair-shaped stool are examples of research that enables sensation by converting sound information into touch information. We can assume that the vibration information aids a hearing impaired people in terms of providing the missing auditory information. However, the techniques above are difficult to implement in a regular environment because it requires a large scale system and the actuator is expensive so there is a demand for a simpler J. Kanebako (✉) ⋅ K. Minamizawa Keio University Graduate School of Media Design, Hiyoshi 4-1-1, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-8526, Japan e-mail: [email protected] URL: http://embodiedmedia.org/q © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 S. Hasegawa et al. (eds.), Haptic Interaction, Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering 432, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-4157-0_75
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structure and an equipment that can change and transmit audio information into vibration using the regular actuator technique. We developed hearing device VibGrip [6] it converts audio information into vibrations that can be felt with the use of the 5 fingers. With 5 actuators, it is possible to feel the different musical part on each finger. For example, thumb is mapping for keyboard sounds, forefinger is mapping for vocal sounds and middle finger is mapping for drum sounds. On the other hand, VG has no sensor and it is difficult to control the intensity of vibration. We improved VG by using pressure sensor. The VG+ allows controlling the intensity of each finger’s vibration and also controlling filter-effect. With this function, people with hearing impaired can feel the vibration of each musical part more clearly and enjoy in the concert.
2 System Description The VG+ has piezoelectric actuators mounted on a small housing. The piezoelectric actuators used in t
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