Effects of pitch level, pitch ratio and finger used for tactile identification on embossed and indented dot arrays

ABSTRACT

The tactile sense is of increasing importance in contemporary human–machine interface design as a means of improving operator information processing performance under sensory resource competitive circumstances. However, there is not enough knowledge of some aspects of human tactile identification ability for different surface textures with varying stimulus characteristics. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of dot engraving forms (embossed and indented), dot pitch (4.50, 4.95, and 5.45 mm), pitch ratio (1.00, 1.10, and1.21), and finger used (index and middle) as well as gender on human tactile identification ability. The results here showed significantly higher accuracy of identification for the embossed stimulus and for the pitch ratio of 1.21. The significant interaction effect of dot engraving form and dot pitch indicated that embossed dots with 4.50 mm pitch level produced the best accuracy of identification. No significant differences for finger used and gender were shown.

KEYWORDS:

• Tactile sensitivity
• tactile identification
• tactile control device
• embossed and indented stimuli
• surface patterns

Acknowledgments

The authors thank for the data collection done by KM Wong.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Steve N. H. Tsang

Steve N. H. Tsang received his PhD in human factors from the City University of Hong Kong. He received his B. Eng. degree in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from the same university in 2010.

Alan H. S. Chan

Alan H. S. Chan is an associate professor in Systems Engineering and Engineering Management Department of City University of Hong Kong. He received his PhD in human factors from the Hong Kong University.

Ken W. L. Chan

Ken W. L. Chan received his PhD and MPhil in human factors from the City University of Hong Kong.

Ruifeng Yu

Ruifeng Yu is an associate professor in Industrial Engineering Department of Tsinghua University of Beijing, China. He received his PhD in Management Science and Engineering from Tsinghua University of China.