Towards Adding Pseudo-Haptic Effects to Acoustic Levitation Displays

What is it about?

Acoustic levitation makes it possible to levitate small particles – in most cases they are polystyrene particles – in mid-air using ultrasound. While TV displays are used for representing information in an intangible way (pixels) and in two dimensions, acoustic levitation displays are used for representing objects in a physical way (particles are made of matter) and in three dimensions. In addition, it can provide haptic feedback to users, also via ultrasound. However, placing the hands too close to the levitating content to perceive haptic feedback would cause the particles to drop. This paper is a first step towards adding non-intrusive and non-mechanical haptic feedback to this technology, in the form of visuo-haptic illusions occurring outside the levitation space.

Featured Image

Photo by Mathias P.R. Reding on Unsplash

Photo by Mathias P.R. Reding on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Much research are underway to make this exciting technology more interactive. This paper contributes to the overall goal of enriching the possibilities of interaction with this emerging kind of displays.