There has been a significant increase of empirical work on multisensory integration over the past years in applications such as navigation, guidance, and warnings. Many researchers (Sarter, 2006; Van Erp, 2002) explored the design of tactile cues to communicate one level of warning information (e.g., type or direction of event). However, little research has been conducted to explore the design of tactile cues to communicate multiple levels of information (type and direction of event), and how to integrate tactile cues with auditory signals in a multisensory display. This talk will describe two laboratory studies conducted to examine 1) the effectiveness of different tactor configurations and temporal signal parameters in communicating multiple dimensions of information (signal type and direction); and 2) the integration of tactile with auditory cues to provide redundant and non-redundant multisensory warning information. Response time and accuracy were measured. Data from the first experiment indicated that participants experienced confusion when those activations were in the same physical region due to different body/limb orientations. Implications of user body orientation while using tactile cues will be discussed. Results from the second experiment suggest that redundant presentation of auditory and tactile information is most efficient. The implications of this work for displays used in robotics, teleoperation and avionics applications will be described.


Sarter, N.B., (2006). Multimodal information presentation: Design guidance and research challenges (2006). A.M. Bisantz (Ed.) Cognitive Engineering Insights for Human Performance and Decision Making, International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 439-445.

Van Erp, J.B.F. (2002). Guidelines for the use of vibro-tactile displays in human computer interaction, Proceedings of Eurohaptics, Edinburgh, 18-22.