Multimodal Vision-Haptic Perception of Digital Watermarks Embedded in 3D Meshes

Abstract

In this paper, a study is conducted to investigate the role of multisensory feedback in the perception of a watermark embedded in a haptic-enabled 3-D virtual surface. Specifically, we focus on whether the use of a bimodal approach, where a subject is looking at, and touching a 3-D mesh could in fact improve the perceptibility of a watermark as opposed to when only a single modality (vision-alone or haptic-alone) is available. The experiments are performed using a vision–haptic interface that enables users to see and touch virtual objects at the same location in space. This approach enables superior integration of vision and touch than a conventional 2-D screen-based display. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) is also conducted to statistically explore the impact of the considered modalities (vision, haptic, and vision–haptic) on the measured watermark detection thresholds across different resolutions of the underlying virtual 3-D mesh. Overall, the results suggest that relying on bimodal vision–haptic feedback is better than any of the single modalities when detecting a watermark embedded in a 3-D model. In addition, it has been assessed that the impact of the selected modality on the perceptibility of the 3-D watermark is independent of the chosen surface resolution.