Effectiveness of Multi-Parameter Compound Tactons for Navigating in a Virtual Urban Environment

Abstract Tactile icons were proposed to convey non-visual information as an abstract approach. Perception of transformational Tactons has been explored, which encode two or more dimensions of information with various vibrotactile parameters. Unlike transformational Tactons, compound Tactons are a sequence of two or more one-element Tactons. However, little has been done on how to design compound Tactons to present non-visual information effectively. This article investigates mean recognition rates and information transfer values of compound Tactons that encode complex navigation information, and evaluates their effectiveness on assisting the participants to navigate in a virtual city. Results of the experiments indicate that overall identification rate for three-parameter Tactons is 92.7% by manipulating different vibrotactile parameters, and 88.7% for four-parameter Tactons by adding an extra thermal parameter; guided by these compound Tactons, all participants were able to reach destinations in the simple virtual urban environment. Therefore, compound tactile icons can be a potential way of conveying multidimensional information.