The impact of a commercial wearable tactile bass system (WTBS) on the emotions expressed by music: A comparative study of deaf and hearing individuals

This study investigated the effectiveness of a commercial wearable tactile bass system (WTBS), device often used to enhance concert experiences for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, in conveying the emotions expressed by music to a mixed panel of participants (deaf and hearing individuals). The central hypothesis proposes that emotions conveyed through music are diminished during audio-tactile substitution (ATS) and that this diminution is reflected in how well both deaf and hearing individuals perceive the emotions. To test this, we assessed participants’ ability to recognize musical emotions from a set of film music excerpts. These excerpts were presented to both deaf and hearing participants under two different experimental conditions: auditory and tactile modality (experimental condition 1), and tactile modality with an auditory masking stimulus (experimental condition 2). To evaluate the emotional content of the music, we used a dimensional model, asking participants to rate their judgments on two dimensions: arousal and valence. The results revealed a significant difference in valence recognition between the two experimental conditions, particularly for music with positive valence. This suggests that the WTBS used was not able to reliably transmit the emotional dimensions of the music, particularly in terms of valence. These findings could enhance our understanding of how musical emotions are experienced through tactile means and inspire further efforts to create more inclusive musical experiences.