Electrotactile Perception Threshold (EPT) is critical for designing electrotactile displays, which is the minimum amplitude of an electrical stimulus that can be perceived. A significant concern in electrotactile displays is skin irritation and burns due to prolonged electrical stimulus with high amplitude. This study aims to propose a method for reducing the EPT using a background stimulation with a vibrotactile display at subthreshold: 90% of the Vibration Perception Threshold (VPT) at 235 Hz. A psychophysical experiment was conducted to measure EPT at the middle of the left forearm with and without the vibrotactile display using the staircase method. A reduction of 3 to 5% in EPT was observed, which can be further enhanced with varying study parameters. In addition, the comfort and safety aspects of the user’s assessment have been analyzed. Electrotactile stimulations have a higher Steven’s power exponent (1.51). Hence a reduced threshold (although it’s only 3 to 5%) would be perceptually significant and advantageous for sensory substitution and rehabilitation (vision, auditory, and gustatory).

电触觉感知阈值 (EPT) 是设计电触觉显示器的关键，它是可以感知的电刺激的最小幅度。电触觉显示器的一个重要问题是由于长时间的高振幅电刺激引起的皮肤刺激和灼伤。本研究旨在提出一种使用具有亚阈值的振动触觉显示器的背景刺激来减少 EPT 的方法：235 Hz 时振动感知阈值 (VPT) 的 90%。进行了一项心理物理学实验，以使用楼梯法在有和没有振动触觉显示器的情况下测量左前臂中部的 EPT。观察到 EPT 减少了 3% 到 5%，这可以通过不同的研究参数进一步增强。此外，还分析了用户评估的舒适性和安全性方面。电触觉刺激具有更高的史蒂文幂指数 (1.51)。因此，降低阈值（尽管只有 3% 到 5%）对于感觉替代和康复（视觉、听觉和味觉）在感知上是显着的和有利的。