ABSTRACT
In our daily life, we mostly perceive an event by more than one sensory modality (e.g., vision, audition, and vibration). The resulting stimuli in the different receptors of our body are correlated in time and other properties according to physical laws like velocity of propagation of light, sound, etc. Additionally, the ways of processing the neural representation of these stimuli as well as the temporal and spatial resolution of events vary from one modality to another. However,
one major capability of our perceptual system is the multisensory integration of these stimuli derived by the different receptors, £nally leading to a single percept. For decades, each of us has learned that different information simultaneously being received by various sensory channels usually is caused by one and the same physical event in our environment. Owing to the fact of multisensory integration, the information provided by our perceptual system on this event is more than the presence of different synchronous stimuli in different channels. So, Kohlrausch and van de Par (1999, 35)
7.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................... 127 7.1.1 De£nitions............................................................................................................................................................ 128 7.1.2 Consequences ...................................................................................................................................................... 129
7.2 Design for the Auditory Channel ..................................................................................................................................... 129 7.2.1 Motivation ............................................................................................................................................................ 129 7.2.2 Basics ................................................................................................................................................................... 130
7.2.2.1 Physics ................................................................................................................................................... 130 7.2.2.2 Psychophysics........................................................................................................................................ 130 7.2.2.3 Semiotics ............................................................................................................................................... 132
7.2.3 Sound Design ....................................................................................................................................................... 133 7.2.3.1 Requirements ........................................................................................................................................ 133 7.2.3.2 Design Guidelines ................................................................................................................................. 134
7.3 Designing for the Tactile Channel ................................................................................................................................... 137 7.3.1 Basics ................................................................................................................................................................... 137
7.3.1.1 Physics and Physiology ......................................................................................................................... 137 7.3.1.2 Psychophysics........................................................................................................................................ 138
7.3.2 Haptic Devices ..................................................................................................................................................... 139 7.3.2.1 Input Devices ........................................................................................................................................ 140 7.3.2.2 Output Devices.......................................................................................................................................141
