Perception of Guitar Strings on a Flat Visuo-Haptic Display

Abstract

There is a rapid growth of interest in digital musical instruments due to advantages they present over their physical counterparts such as portability and novel experiences. However, these instruments still rarely provide haptic feedback, which results in weakened user experience. This study investigates whether haptic renderings of three guitar strings are discriminated by touch and whether they provide a realistic sensation of plucking a guitar string. Specifically, five methods to record and replay the vibrations induced by the plucking of a guitar string were tested. Three procedures relied on recordings made on the right hand's index finger, which underwent three types of filtering. Another one was recorded on the left hand kept motionless on the guitar's fingerboard. The fifth method recorded the vibrations directly on the neck of the guitar. The results revealed that good discrimination of the rendered string occurred only for recordings made on the motionless left hand's index finger or on the guitar. Participants also rated these conditions as being the most realistic, regardless of whether they were acquainted with musical instruments. Overall, this study shows that distinct guitar strings can be rendered by vibrotactile feedback and that tactile noise due to the interaction impairs their recognition and perceived realism.