The Mobile Phone’s Optimal Vibration Frequency in Mobile Environments

Mobile environments are very dynamic and unpredictable [1]. When a mobile phone user is moving, his attention resources are reserved partly for passively monitoring and reacting to contexts and events and partly for actively constructing them [2]. In this paper, we suggest guidelines related to the optimal vibration frequency for the perception of mobile phone vibration when the user is moving. To guarantee the validity of this study, subjects were asked to indicate their perception of the randomly given 7 vibrotactile stimuli while they performed routine activities on a sidewalk, subway, or bus. With Logistic Regression analysis, the results showed that the optimal vibration frequency in the dynamic state was higher than 180 Hz, considerably higher than 151 Hz - the optimal vibration frequency obtained in the static state in the previous study. From this study, mobile phone manufacturers should consider this factor when designing the vibration frequency for the vibration mode so that missed calls in mobile environments are minimized.