research-article

Experiencing Electrical Muscle Stimulation

Authors:

K. HornbækAuthors Info & Claims

Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies, Volume 2, Issue 3

Article No.: 118, Pages 1 - 14

https://doi.org/10.1145/3264928

Published: 18 September 2018 Publication History

Abstract

Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) offers rich opportunities for interaction. By varying stimulation parameters (amplitudes, pulse widths and frequencies), EMS can be used to either trigger muscle contractions, and so convey object affordances or guide user movements, or provide rich haptic feedback. However, the way users' experience changes with these parameters, and EMS in general, is poorly understood. Using a phenomenologically inspired interview technique, the explicitation interview, we study fifteen users' experience of EMS across 48 combinations of stimulation parameters. We synthesize the descriptions of EMS and relate stimulation parameters to categories of experience, such as 'temperature', 'motion', and 'sensitivity'. From the interviews, we explore more general topics in body-based interfaces, including the experience of control, metaphors for having your body actuated, and the relation between EMS parameters and perceived depth and location of sensations. These findings provide a vocabulary of EMS experience, and an insight into the relationship between specific parameters and associated sensations. In turn, this can help designers consider the user experience of EMS when developing interfaces.

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Cited By

Lebiedowska AHartman-Petrycka MStolecka-Warzecha AOdrzywołek WBożek MWilczyński S(2024)The Influence of Skin Parameters and Body Composition on the Tolerance of Pain Stimulus Generated During Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) in Women - Pilot StudyClinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology10.2147/CCID.S463676Volume 17(1227-1243)Online publication date: May-2024
https://doi.org/10.2147/CCID.S463676
Patibanda ROverdevest NSaini ALi ZAndres JKnibbe Jvan den Hoven EMueller F(2024)Exploring Shared Bodily Control: Designing Augmented Human Systems for Intra- and Inter-CorporealityProceedings of the Augmented Humans International Conference 202410.1145/3652920.3653037(318-323)Online publication date: 4-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3652920.3653037
Patibanda ROverdevest NNisal SSaini AElvitigala DKnibbe JVan Den Hoven EMueller F(2024)Shared Bodily Fusion: Leveraging Inter-Body Electrical Muscle Stimulation for Social PlayProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3660723(2088-2106)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3660723
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Index Terms

Experiencing Electrical Muscle Stimulation
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. HCI design and evaluation methods
      1. User studies
  2. Ubiquitous and mobile computing
    1. Empirical studies in ubiquitous and mobile computing
    2. Ubiquitous and mobile computing theory, concepts and paradigms
      1. Ubiquitous computing

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cover image Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies

Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies Volume 2, Issue 3

September 2018

1536 pages

EISSN:2474-9567

DOI:10.1145/3279953

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Copyright © 2018 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 18 September 2018

Accepted: 01 September 2018

Revised: 01 July 2018

Received: 01 May 2018

Published in IMWUT Volume 2, Issue 3

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Cited By

Lebiedowska AHartman-Petrycka MStolecka-Warzecha AOdrzywołek WBożek MWilczyński S(2024)The Influence of Skin Parameters and Body Composition on the Tolerance of Pain Stimulus Generated During Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) in Women - Pilot StudyClinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology10.2147/CCID.S463676Volume 17(1227-1243)Online publication date: May-2024
https://doi.org/10.2147/CCID.S463676
Patibanda ROverdevest NSaini ALi ZAndres JKnibbe Jvan den Hoven EMueller F(2024)Exploring Shared Bodily Control: Designing Augmented Human Systems for Intra- and Inter-CorporealityProceedings of the Augmented Humans International Conference 202410.1145/3652920.3653037(318-323)Online publication date: 4-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3652920.3653037
Patibanda ROverdevest NNisal SSaini AElvitigala DKnibbe JVan Den Hoven EMueller F(2024)Shared Bodily Fusion: Leveraging Inter-Body Electrical Muscle Stimulation for Social PlayProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3660723(2088-2106)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3660723
Moesgen TCiolfi LHogan TDöring TJenkins Tvan Dijk JHuron SLi ZCoyle DSigner B(2024)Understanding and Designing Thermal ExperiencesProceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3623509.3634893(1-4)Online publication date: 11-Feb-2024
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Moesgen TGowrishankar RXiao YCiolfi LHogan TDöring TJenkins Tvan Dijk JHuron SLi ZCoyle DSigner B(2024)Designing Beyond Hot and Cold – Exploring Full-Body Heat Experiences in SaunaProceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3623509.3633364(1-14)Online publication date: 11-Feb-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3623509.3633364
Liu SSemertzidis NLee GMueller FEns BCiolfi LHogan TDöring TJenkins Tvan Dijk JHuron SLi ZCoyle DSigner B(2024)Exploring Superpower Design Through Wi-Fi TwingeProceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3623509.3633352(1-16)Online publication date: 11-Feb-2024
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Saini APatibanda ROverdevest NVan Den Hoven EMueller FCiolfi LHogan TDöring TJenkins Tvan Dijk JHuron SLi ZCoyle DSigner B(2024)PneuMa: Designing Pneumatic Bodily Extensions for Supporting Movement in Everyday LifeProceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3623509.3633349(1-16)Online publication date: 11-Feb-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3623509.3633349
Saini APatibanda ROverdevest NVan Den Hoven EMueller F(2024)PneuMa: Designing Pneumatic Bodily Extensions for Supporting Movement in Everyday LifeExtended Abstracts of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3649125(1-4)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3649125
Nith RHo YLopes P(2024)SplitBody: Reducing Mental Workload while Multitasking via Muscle StimulationProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642629(1-11)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642629
Faltaous SWilliamson JKoelle MPfeiffer MKeppel JSchneegass S(2024)Understanding User Acceptance of Electrical Muscle Stimulation in Human-Computer InteractionProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642585(1-16)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642585
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