A Research on Sensing Localization and Orientation of Objects in VR with Facial Vibrotactile Display

Tactile display technology has been widely proved to be effective to human-computer interaction. In multiple quantitative research methods to evaluate VR user experience (such as presence, immersion, and usability), multi-sensory factors are significant proportion. Therefore, the integration of VR-HMD and tactile display is a possible application and innovation trend of VR. The BIP (Break in Presence) phenomenon affects the user's spatial awareness when entering or leaving VR environments. We extracted orientation and localization tasks to discuss the influence of facial vibrotactile display on these tasks. Correlational researches are mainly focused on the parts of human body such as torso, limb, and head regions. We chose face region and to carry out the experiment, a VR-based wearable prototype “VibroMask” was built to implement facial vibrotactile perception. Firstly, the behavioral data of subjects' discrimination of vibrotactile information were tested to obtain the appropriate display paradigm. It was found that the discrimination accuracy of low-frequency vibration was higher with loose wearing status, and the delay offset of one-point vibration could better adapt to the orientation task. Secondly, the effect of facial vibrotactile display on objects’ localization and orientation discriminating task in VR was discussed. Finally, subjects’ feedback was collected by using open-ended questionnaire, it is found that users have a higher subjective evaluation of VR experience with facial vibrotactile display.