Music Haptics

The use of touch-based feedback — including vibrations, textures, and force — to convey musical information such as pitch, tempo, timbre, articulation, dynamics, and rhythm. Music haptics draws on the fact that haptic receptors in the skin, muscles, and joints naturally relay information about force and motion when playing an instrument, and that these tactile channels can be deliberately used to communicate musical cues. For blind and low vision musicians, music haptics offers a way to receive musical information that is typically conveyed visually (sheet music, conductor gestures, nonverbal cues from fellow musicians) through the sense of touch, enabling hands-free and eyes-free musical performance and learning.