Vibrotactile feedback in the left hand of violinists

Indiana Wollman , Claudia Fritz , Joël Frelat

The long-term goal of this study is to investigate the differences that can be perceived in the “feel” of a violin across a certain range of instruments. As a first step, we compare the vibration levels in violin necks and the violinists' sensitivity to vibration in their left hand. Absolute vibrotactile thresholds were measured on violinists holding an isolated vibrating violin neck, to mimic normal playing conditions (in particular the pressure and the position of the hand on the neck). A standard alternative forced choice procedure was used and the measurements were done as a function of frequency in the skin sensitivity range 200-900Hz. Vibration levels of the neck (at different positions along the neck) were measured classically across a large set of instruments, using a laser vibrometer and an impulse excitation at the bridge. Results show that the neck vibration levels are above the perceptual thresholds for most violins and most frequencies below 900 Hz, and the relative difference between the two can vary a lot from violin to violin.

Domaines: Acoustique [physics.class-ph]

Indiana Wollman, Claudia Fritz, Joël Frelat. Vibrotactile feedback in the left hand of violinists. Acoustics 2012, Apr 2012, Nantes, France. ⟨hal-00811178⟩