Where Haptics Meets Wellness
Haptics have become a feature of many phones in recent years as a form of accessibility and engagement. How could haptics continue to spread into more spaces of the market like wellness? In an article from Dijka et. al, the subject of how combined audio-tactile stimulation could be studied, developed, and potentially implemented across a range of locations.
" People perceive the world through their senses: sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch. The tactile (touch) sense is an important one: it is in fact the first sense to develop in the womb. Touch can give people strong emotional experiences [1] and is vital for health and well-being [1]. Tactile stimulation or somatosensory stimulation, applying touch to the human body, is often used as a way to make people feel better or to reduce stress. Examples range from basic touch to comfort someone, massaging techniques, whole-body vibration training and physiotherapy to alternative treatments such as acupressure, Reiki and vibro-acoustic therapy." (Dijka, Nijholt, van Erp, Kuyper, & van Wolferen, n.d.)
An extremely interesting paper, the possibilities proposed leave you to dream about more ways this kind of live adapting wellness space could be seen in the world you aim to build. For instance, how could personal cars become equipped with small scale wellness pods that apply the same technology to induce calm. As someone who routinely drives trips ranging from 3 hours to 25 hours, the idea of having a 'relaxation room' similar to the trin example in the paper is extremely appealing. If I could pull over and have a 25 minute recharge using technology that supports relaxation, that would be highly preferable to hoping that the hotel closest to me when I need a nap is suitable. Imagine if your back seat youths could engage with wellness in a way that was fully immersive and held their attention spans! How would implementation of audio-tactile stimulation for wellness and relaxation look in family vehicles? What about personal vehicles?
References
Dijka, E. O., Nijholt, A., van Erp, J. B. F., Kuyper, E., & van Wolferen, G. (n.d.). Audio-tactile stimulation: A tool to improve health and well-being. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/44227236_Audio-tactile_stimulation_A_tool_to_improve_health_and_well-being
TITAN Haptics. (2025). The power of haptics: Elevating wellness to the next level. https://titanhaptics.com/the-power-of-haptics-elevating-wellness-to-the-next-level/
