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Enhancing Music Perception Through Auditory-Vibrotactile Training

Poster Session B - Sunday, March 8, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Etienne Abassi¹ (etienne.abassi@mcgill.ca), Philippe Albouy², Emily Coffey³, Andréanne Sharp², Robert Zatorre¹; ¹McGill university, ²Laval university, ³Concordia university

Hearing loss limits the ability to process complex sounds, such as speech or music in noisy environments. Although hearing aids and cochlear implants improve audibility, they often fail to convey fine acoustic details, reducing speech understanding and access to music, an important source of cultural and emotional engagement. Auditory–tactile integration offers a promising way to address these challenges. Indeed, vibrotactile feedback can complement auditory input by conveying rhythm, intensity, and frequency through the somatosensory system, potentially supporting everyday listening. Our research investigates whether vibrotactile information delivered through a novel Multichannel Vibrotactile Glove can enhance auditory perception of short musical excerpts in noise. The glove converts complex acoustic signals into high-fidelity vibrotactile stimulation, tonotopically mapped across the fingers to mirror the frequency organization of the auditory system. In a pilot study, six healthy adults completed a five-session protocol over two weeks, including baseline testing, three days of training, and post-training assessment. Auditory perception was measured using the Music-in-Noise Task (MINT), which assesses discrimination of repeated musical excerpts embedded in noise. Neural correlates of sound processing were examined with EEG, focusing on reconstruction of the music envelope as an index of neural encoding. As a result, participants showed improved MINT performance in the auditory–tactile condition compared to audio-only listening, with additional gains following training. EEG results suggested enhanced neural encoding for auditory–tactile stimulation relative to unimodal input. Together, these findings indicate that vibrotactile feedback can enhance auditory perception, support learning, and engage multisensory plasticity, highlighting its potential for auditory rehabilitation

Topic Area: PERCEPTION & ACTION: Multisensory