Vibration Sensitivity of the Human Hand: Implications for Haptic Design

<p>Vibration perception thresholds (VPT) data of the human hand at the 200–500 Hz range is crucial for optimizing modern haptic devices. Vibrations in this range require less amplitude to trigger conscious perception, thus can be employed in devices with less design compromises. While previous research mainly focused on specific fingers, i.e., index and little fingers, we assessed VPTs at six glabrous skin locations on the right hand of 30 healthy subjects across three age groups using the Staircase method. Linear mixed models indicated that VPTs were predicted by frequency, hand location, and the interaction between location and age group. VPTs generally increased with frequency. No significant VPT differences were found among the four finger pulps, but the palm areas were consistently more sensitive. VPTs were lowest at the hypothenar eminence. This suggests that designers should aim to deliver vibrations to the palm, particularly the hypothenar eminence, for effective communication via vibrotactile feedback, due to its higher sensitivity regardless of the user’s age. Same-frequency vibrations delivered to the index to little fingerpulps are likely to be perceived at similar amplitudes, i.e., the sensitivity towards perceiving vibrations of the assessed range is the same across these fingerpulps.</p>