Detection of Torque Vibrations Transmitted Through a Passively-Held Rotary Switch

This study is part of an ongoing research program aimed at understanding how humans perceive the properties and qualities of everyday objects such as rotary switches. This article reports our measurement of detection thresholds for torque vibrations transmitted through a passively-held rotary switch. We show that the torque thresholds are very similar to published displacement thresholds in that both types of threshold vs. frequency curves are U-shaped and both reach a minimum around 100-300 Hz. As far as we are aware, this is likely the first report of detection thresholds for sinusoidal torque vibrations.