Music performance with traditional instruments usually involves the establishment of a complex haptic exchange between players and instruments. However digital musical devices currently do not offer such physical richness.
Advancing haptic interaction with such devices will require input from research on hardware technology and on haptic perception, as well as of various aspects of human-computer interaction (user experience, performance assessment, etc.).
The recent interest in haptics - especially by the HCI and engineering communities and the consumer electronics industry - relies on the assumption that properly designed haptic interfaces result in better user experience, improved performance and usability. Indeed, while performing on traditional instruments, the players' haptic channel is involved in a complex action-perception loop. Accordingly, we expect that digital musical instruments (DMIs) will especially gain from haptic technology.The former interdisciplinary project AHMI (SNSF grant 150107) initiated an original, exploratory investigation on the role of auditory and haptic modalities in musical practice. The HAPTEEV project will continue that research focusing on the development of advanced haptic technology suitable for musical interfaces, while parallel subjective evaluation and performance assessment will provide scientific foundation to technological and design solutions.Motivation and Goals: Human-computer interfaces are usually operated by touch, however information feedback to the user mostly relies on the visual and, to a lesser extent, auditory modalities. Similarly, current DMIs generally lack haptic feedback, and we argue that re-establishing a rich haptic exchange between musicians and digital interfaces would improve user experience, and support performance control and expressivity. In this framework, project HAPTEEV will pursue the design and implementation of novel technology for rendering rich vibrotactile feedback.Evaluation experiments, addressing both subjective and objective interaction characteristics, will provide scientific foundations to the design of haptic DMIs.Broader impact: In addition to offering improved user experience, performance and expressivity, haptic musical interfaces have a high potential for providing guidance in musical tuition, large ensembles and remote performance, and for granting access to musical practice for persons with somatosensory loss, the visually and even the hearing impaired. Technological and experimental results of the project are expected to set a reference for research in HCI and haptic engineering at large, fostering the development of next generation haptic interfaces.