When to use vibrotactile displays? A meta-analysis for the role of vibrotactile displays in human-computer interaction

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to investigate the benefits of unimodal tactile displays relative to other modal displays and the performance gains of adding redundant tactile displays by integrating empirical studies.

Background: Tactile displays have attracted increasing attention in recent years due to their unique advantages. Synthesizing experimental data is necessary to analyze the performance benefits of tactile displays for participants and better help practitioners in utilizing them.

Method: Five meta-analyses were conducted. Two meta-analyses compared the participants' performance between tactile and other modal displays (visual vs. tactile and auditory vs. tactile). Three meta-analyses examined the performance gains of adding redundant tactile displays based on other modal displays (visual vs. visual + tactile, auditory vs. auditory + tactile, and visual + auditory vs. visual + auditory + tactile). The related moderator variables, the types of presented information and concurrent tasks, were analyzed.

Results: Little evidence shows the performance difference between tactile and auditory displays. Tactile displays are more beneficial than visual displays for presenting alert information or in the situation with a visual concurrent task. The performance gains of adding redundant tactile displays to other modal displays also depend on the specific type of presented information and the concurrent task.

Conclusion: When using tactile displays to convey information, interface designers should consider the specific type of presented information and the concurrent tasks.

Applications: The present study's findings can provide some implications for designers to utilize tactile displays when they construct and implement information displays.

Keywords: Auditory display; Human–computer interaction; Meta-analysis; Redundant multimodal display; Tactile display; Visual display.