TouchSense Tactile Feedback System

Maintenance and Downtime

Without effective and immediate feedback, equipment can be perceived as unresponsive. This perception can lead to user dissatisfaction, harsh treatment, damage, repair needs, and equipment downtime.

With the TouchSense system, users know immediately that their press registered, so fewer repeated and less forceful taps on the touchscreen may result. Alleviating excessive pressing and force can directly contribute to increased touch panel and LCD longevity and can reduce the incidence of mechanical failures.

Transaction Completion

When systems are slow to respond, users are left wondering if they work. With a TouchSense-enabled touchscreen, there’s no mistaking that input was received by the system. In addition, users are faster and more accurate in making selections when tactile feedback is provided.

Audio and visual cues provide response, but they are not always appropriate, and they can rarely make a personal connection. Because touch is the most personal of the senses, touch feedback makes interactions more engaging and enjoyable. Touch supplies an engagement that gives people confidence, which inspires acceptance and use, important outcomes for any business.

Noise and Distraction

Industrial and commercial environments are often noisy and distracting. In these settings, sound and visual cues are often ineffective. Using the touch sense for confirmation overcomes noise and distraction.

Quiet

In quiet settings where sound is inappropriate, such as healthcare facilities, a tactile cue supplies quiet yet obvious feedback directly to, and only to, the user – and without drawing attention away from a primary activity.

Glare

Sunlight hitting an outdoor touchscreen kiosk can present a visibility problem, and confirming touch feedback helps overcome this drawback.

Safety

Safety can be a special concern in mission-critical applications, especially when users need to function flawlessly in distractive environments. Mechanical buttons inherently provide feedback, whether or not they actually trigger. TouchSense® touch feedback is felt only when the host system receives and recognizes user input. The touch response is unmistakable as a system confirmation, which provides a safeguard.

Productivity, Speed, Accuracy

Visual feedback is often not effective because fingers can obscure graphical changes. Even with mechanical controls, after making a selection, users need to expend the mental energy to verify system status. Audio cues may not be heard.

With touch controls that “touch back,” users immediately understand that their input was accepted, so they can react faster. They can be more efficient and confident. They can do more with less mental processing (cognitive load). Research shows that the heightened interactivity of touch also increases user speed and accuracy.