Feedback Channel

In relation to a virtual environment, a feedback channel is a single mode of feedback in what is by necessity a multimodal system. It refers to the feedback to a single device for a single sense. For example, if the user is interacting with a virtual environment via a head mounted display system and a pair of force feedback haptic gloves, there are multiple feedback channels involved.

The visual feedback has two channels: one to each eye, which are processed semi-indipendently. Likewise the audio is divided into left and right ear channels, bringing to a total of four. Force feedback to the left hand is a separate channel to the right. If the gloves have the fairly standard fourteen inflatable haptic bladders in them, to simulate pressure against the palm and every segment of the fingers, then each bladder is a separate feedback channel.

In other words, each sense a given piece of interface hardware deals with when returning data to the user, is a different feedback channel.

See Also: HMD, Haptic Glove, Force feedback, Sonic Feedback, Stereoscopy, Haptics, Kinesthetic Feedback, Scent Feedback, GVS

Below, we offer a selection of links from our resource databases which may match this term.

Acoustic Ecology Auditory Display Binaural Sound Binaural Sound Synthesis Biohack Biohacking

Feedback Channel Grinder Kansei Kansei Engineering

Sonification

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Packbot to gain Haptic Feedback
In October 2009, iRobot announced that they would be receiving additional funding from the US Robotics Technology Consortium. They plan to use much of this money to add full haptic feedback technology to their heavy-duty robots.

Attention is what makes Sensory Data Stand Out
The title above should come as no surprise to most people. However, we now have empirical scientific evidence to back this up. When you concentrate your attention or focus on a particular channel of sensory input, it comes in clear and sharp, regardless of the background information. The study focuses on the sense of sight, but what applies there, applies to all.

Pixel Perfect: Get Real / Nothings Wrong with Me / When the Rain falls

The 2004 Disney Channel Original Movie Pixel Perfect, is not available outside of Disney broadcast releases, but the soundtrack is. Among the tracks on it, are three songs, each with multiple meanings yet, from the way they were presented in the film, it is clear they were meant to refer to aspects of the life of a computer generated singer.

Pixel Perfect

Pixel Perfect is a 2004 Disney Channel Original Movie. It was first shown in January 2004, to 1.58 million viewers. As might be expected from a Disney branded production, Pixel Perfect can be somewhat teenager-orientated, however it is essentially S1m0ne, given a new twist.

A Sterile World
Smell is a sense often overlooked in a virtual world. Developers discount its importance, as a minor sense, when in truth we rely on it as an input channel to flesh out the world around us. Scents carry on the breeze, and they are with us all the time: from the perfumed odours of pollen blowing in the wind, to the pong as you pass a full dustbin, to the aroma of freshly cooked food wafting out of a pub.

VR Interfaces: Shimi
Shimi is the product of research done at Georgia Tech's Center for Music Technology. It is, in essence, an artificial intelligence DJ. It recommends songs, dances to the beat and keeps the music pumping based on listener feedback.

You Tube of the first haptic, bionic arm versus a non-haptic
A comparison. Two women, both with prosthetic limbs. On the left, a standard prosthetic. On the right, a haptic prosthetic giving touch feedback. Who can complete the task faster, and is there much difference?

Scent as a Communication Channel Physically and in VR?
In a study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, researcher Gün Semin and colleagues from Utrecht University in the Netherlands have expressed interest in the use of pheromones for communication, in all animals including humans. They postulated that scents might actually be playing a role in how we subconsciously communicate, and their results do bear out that possibility. This means there is yet another potential use for scent in virtual environments – as a means for increasing the bandwidth of interpersonal communication.

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