Audio-Tactile Integration: Concurrent Audio Feedback Can Shift Vibrotactile Frequency Perception

We hypothesize that cross-modal integration can shift the haptic perception of vibrotactile frequency in the presence of concurrent audio stimuli. The feasibility and extent of this hypothesis are examined in two psychophysical experiments. The first experiment focuses on the core hypothesis, comparing purely vibrotactile feedback against vibrotactile feedback accompanied by audio stimuli of various frequencies. In the second experiment, we quantify the difference in vibrotactile perception that users perceive in the presence of concurrent audio feedback. The results show that concurrent low-frequency aural stimulation has a significant effect on the perception of high-frequency vibrations.