Related Scientific Studies

Science and research

A new way of understanding the relationship between sound and body.

For decades, different disciplines have researched how mechanical vibrations are perceived because they interact with the nervous system. Today, this research spans fields such as the neuroscience of music, vibrotactile perception, multisensory integration and what's known as "musical haptics."

The most recent studies show that the relationship between hearing and feeling is more complex than was traditionally thought. The brain can integrate information from both hearing and touch, and vibrations transmitted to the body can shape the movement music prompts and how engaged a listener feels — the way we experience it not only through the ears, but with the whole body.

This research has also studied how different frequencies, intensities, waveforms, locations and temporal patterns change the way vibration is perceived. There is no single frequency that on its own explains the bodily experience of sound: the vibrotactile system is complex and dynamic.

One particularly interesting line of research looks at synchronisation between vibrations. When auditory and tactile stimuli have a coherent relationship in time and intensity, they can produce a different experience from the one produced when they are separate.

It's in this territory — between music, touch, perception and neuroscience — that we place our own exploration.

A selection, not a conclusion.

The studies presented below are only a selection from a much wider body of scientific literature.

We've chosen research we consider especially relevant to understanding different aspects of the phenomenon: from the physiology of vibration perception to the integration of touch, haptic music, sensorimotor synchronisation and contemporary research in vibroacoustics.

These studies use different protocols, devices, frequencies and populations, and not all of them study Vibronautica directly. That's why we don't present them as proof that our methodology works, but as a window into the scientific knowledge that helps us understand the territory we're exploring.

The research remains open. And that's exactly why it interests us.

Vibronautica is part of an ongoing exploration into what happens when music stops being only something we listen to, and also becomes something we can perceive with the body.