Touch, Movement and Vibration: User Perception of Vibrotactile Feedback for Touch and Mid-Air Gestures

Designing appropriate feedback for gesture interfaces is an important aspect of user experience and performance. We conduct the first investigation of users´ perceptions of vibrotactile stimuli during touch and mid-air gesture input for smart devices. Furthermore, we explore perception of feedback that is decoupled from the smart device and delivered outside its operating range by an accessory wearable, i.e., feedback delivered at arm-level. Results show user perception of vibrotactile stimuli up to 80% accurate, which we use to recommend guidelines for practitioners to design new vibrotactile feedback techniques for smart devices.