Stroking Stimuli to the Ear to Enhance Pleasant and Non-arousing Feelings while Listening to Sounds

We investigated the effects of stroking stimuli near the external auditory meatus on the emotions aroused by the experience of listening to sounds. Previous studies demonstrated that vibratory stimuli to the upper body manipulate emotions while watching videos or listening to sounds; however, none examined the effects of stroking stimuli near the external auditory meatus through which the vagus nerve extends. This study investigated the effects of stroking stimuli to the outer ear on emotions for each of six emotionally evocative sounds that arouse pleasant or unpleasant feelings. They comprised the sounds of rain, shampoo, insects' buzz, and horrifying winds. When the sound stimuli were presented with stroking stimuli at the ear, participants' emotions mostly changed to be more pleasant and sleepy, that is less arousing. These findings are expected to help in the development of haptic interfaces for more emotionally appealing content.