The Relationship Between Frequency and Hand Region Actuated.

While the frequency response of the skin is described at macro level, there is a need to explore discrete areas of interest. The experiments described in this paper are part of a project that aims to build devices for cochlear implant (CI) users that meet music listening needs. The aim is to demonstrate that constant amplitude vibrotactile stimuli with distinct frequencies excite different areas of the hand with varying perceived intensity. 65 subjects took part in two within-subject experiments investigating the areas of the hand with most intense perceived sensation when exposed to various stimuli. Multinomial logistic regression was performed on the data and it was concluded that particular signals will elicit stronger sensations on some regions of the hand, and weaker on others. This indicates that there is a correlation between frequency of the stimuli and the area of the hand mostly stimulated.