Multisensory haptic feedback for augmented bodies in diminished reality

Abstract

Abstract Diminished Reality (DR) refers to techniques that visually remove real objects from a user’s view and replace the resulting area with a plausible reconstruction of the background. While DR has traditionally been used primarily as an image-processing approach, our previous work introduced TechnoSapiens , an immersive real-time DR environment for studying body augmentation. In this system, a real body part is visually removed and a virtual prosthetic limb is rendered in its place, allowing body augmentation to be examined without the perceptual duplication typical of conventional Augmented Reality. Continuing our work on DR-based body augmentation, this paper investigates how multisensory feedback can enhance the embodiment of a prosthetically augmented limb. To this end, we extend TechnoSapiens with physics-based pseudo-haptic interaction and a custom vibrotactile glove tailored to the specific requirements of the DR setup. In a within-subject user study with 43 participants, we compared pseudo-haptic visual feedback alone with multisensory feedback combining visual and vibrotactile cues during manual interaction tasks. The results show that vibrotactile feedback is associated with higher reported levels of embodiment, self-presence, and physical presence. These findings indicate that coherent haptic stimulation can strengthen the experience of owning and acting through a virtual prosthetic limb in DR. The work contributes to the study of body ownership illusions and provides a technical basis for future applications in design, prototyping, gaming, training, and rehabilitation.