Towards Just Noticeable Differences for Natural Frequency of Manually Excited Virtual Dynamic Systems

This paper explores the experiment design to determine a human's ability to discriminate the natural frequency of manually excited virtual dynamic systems. We use a one degree-of-freedom haptic interface with a coupled graphical display to render a virtual mass-spring system, which is excited by the human operator using his/her dominant hand. The results from the preliminary experiment indicate a JND value of approximately 8%. However, results also indicate that excitation strategies have a significant effect on the discrimination threshold determination of this dynamic property. In this paper, along with a discussion of the preliminary results, a refined experiment design that accounts for different factors influencing the discrimination of manually excited natural frequency is presented