Large-area tactile display using vibration transmission of jammed particles

Tactile displays to enrich audiovisual experience often employ vibration feedback from a chair or jacket. Providing vibration to lager area of the human body is a promising approach to make the experience more immersive. However, the system requires many vibrotactile transducers to be applied to the whole body, and contact between the transducers and the user´s body surface is sometimes insufficient. We propose a novel vibrotactile display that covers a large area of the body surface and fits various shapes, based on vibration transmission through jammed particles. Styrofoam particles around the body are jammed by evacuating the air. Vibrations from speakers are delivered to the user´s body though the jammed particles. We envision our vibrotactile transmission technique being applied to whole-body tactile displays.