LiquidReality: Wetness Sensations on the Face for Virtual Reality

Abstract

We present LiquidReality, a wearable system that simulates wetness sensations directly on the user's face for immersive virtual reality applications. The LiquidReality system consists of a headmounted display integrated with thermal and vibrotactile modules that provides co-located haptic feedback with the displayed visuals. With this system, we conducted a preliminary study that evaluated nine types of thermal and thermal/vibrotactile stimuli to induce a wetness sensation on the user's face. Our results indicate that thermal only stimuli and low frequency vibrotactile stimuli (combined with thermal) induced better wetness perception. Next, using the results from this preliminary study, we evaluated the immersion enhancement when using the LiquidReality system in combination with related visuals. The results indicate that using the LiquidReality system with related visuals, enhances the level of immersion for the user.