Toward Haptic Communication: Tactile Alphabets Based on Fingertip Skin Stretch.

This paper studies the possibility to convey information using tactile stimulation on fingertips. We designed and evaluated three tactile alphabets which are rendered by stretching the skin of the index's fingertip: (1) a Morse-like alphabet, (2) a symbolic alphabet using two successive dashes, and (3) a display of Roman letters based on the Unistrokes alphabet. All three alphabets (26 letters each) were evaluated through a user study in terms of recognition rate, intuitiveness and learning. Participants were able to perceive and recognize the letters with very good results (80%-97% recognition rates). Tactile alphabets with representations closer to Roman alphabet seem easier to learn. Taken together, our results pave the way to novel kinds of information communication using tactile modality.