Comparing Vibrotactile and Skin-Stretch Haptic Feedback for Conveying Spatial Information of Virtual Objects to Blind VR Users

This conference talk explores the effectiveness of vibrotactile versus skin-stretch haptic feedback methods for helping blind users perceive spatial information in virtual reality environments. Learn how researchers from the University of Maryland and University of Wisconsin-Madison conducted a study with 10 blind participants to determine which haptic cue type better conveys the location and movement of virtual objects when applied to the dorsal side of the hand. Discover the findings that reveal skin-stretch cues provide more accurate spatial understanding compared to vibrotactile feedback. The presentation, part of the "Accessibility of immersive interfaces" session at IEEE VR, concludes with practical design recommendations for developing more effective haptic solutions to improve VR accessibility for blind users.