Summary: A new study finds that combining touch with hearing significantly strengthens emotional reactions to music. Using a custom device that translates sound into tactile vibrations felt on the hands and body, researchers observed increased joy, a stronger sense of connection, and reduced anxiety when participants both heard and felt music.
The effect was most pronounced when listeners chose songs they already enjoyed, showing that multisensory input deepens emotional engagement. These findings point to promising uses in virtual reality, immersive entertainment, and therapeutic interventions for anxiety and emotional regulation.
Key Facts:
- Tactile enhancement: Converting audio into bodily vibrations amplifies music enjoyment and positive feelings.
- Personal connection: Allowing listeners to select music they love increases the emotional impact of the multisensory experience.
- Therapeutic potential: Audio-tactile stimulation reduced state anxiety in the study and may inform new multisensory therapies for mental health and emotional regulation.
Source: Reichman Institute
Researchers from Reichman University’s Dina Recanati School of Medicine and the Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology report that combining auditory and tactile input makes musical experiences emotionally richer.
The study, carried out at the Institute for Brain, Cognition and Technology, introduced a purpose-built system that converts streamed audio into vibrations optimized for perception through the hands and torso. The hardware and accompanying algorithm were designed to preserve musical information when translated into a reduced tactile frequency range.
“People respond differently to music when they can feel it through their bodies,” says Naama Schwartz, PhD candidate and co-first author. “Think of a live concert: hearing, sight, and the physical vibration all combine. Our device recreates a controlled portion of that unified sensory experience.”
Dr. Adi Snir, co-first author and senior researcher, adds: “The tactile system senses vibration over a narrower frequency band than hearing. We developed an algorithm to map streamed music into frequencies that the skin and body can perceive while retaining essential musical cues.”
The study’s outcomes were clear: participants reported greater enjoyment and more positive emotions when music was presented as both sound and synchronized vibration. When listeners selected familiar or personally meaningful tracks, the emotional enhancement increased. Notably, audio-tactile sessions were also associated with lower state anxiety, indicating immediate therapeutic promise.
The research team highlights several practical applications. Multisensory music could enrich virtual reality and other entertainment platforms by integrating haptic feedback with audio. It also offers a pathway for sensory-based interventions aimed at reducing anxiety and improving emotional regulation.
“As VR and haptic technologies become more accessible, adding well-designed tactile feedback offers new ways to deepen engagement and to harness music’s therapeutic effects,” Dr. Snir explains.
Professor Amir Amedi, head of the lab, emphasizes the brain’s sensitivity to matched signals across senses: “When auditory and tactile inputs align, attention and emotional response strengthen. The close interaction between these systems helps explain why listeners experience immediate and powerful effects. This work advances our understanding of sensory integration and its emotional consequences, as well as its clinical potential.”
Key Questions Answered:
A: Adding synchronized vibrations engages multisensory integration in the brain, which intensifies emotional reactions and makes the musical experience feel fuller and more embodied.
A: The team created a hardware-and-software system that converts streamed audio into vibration patterns optimized for perception on the hands and body, preserving musical cues within the tactile frequency range.
A: Yes. Beyond improving live events and VR immersion, audio-tactile music shows potential for anxiety reduction and sensory-based therapies to support emotional regulation.
About this music, sensory perception, and emotion research news
Author: Lital Ben Ari
Source: Reichman Institute
Contact: Lital Ben Ari – Reichman Institute
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: “Feeling the music: exploring emotional effects of auditory-tactile musical experiences” by Naama Schwartz et al., published in Frontiers in Virtual Reality (open access).
Abstract
Feeling the music: exploring emotional effects of auditory-tactile musical experiences
Pairing tactile stimulation with auditory input can improve detection, localization, and comprehension of sound, especially in noisy environments. Yet the influence of haptic feedback on emotional state has been less explored, despite strong links between bodily sensation and emotion.
This study assessed how a controlled multisensory audio-tactile music experience affects mood and state anxiety. The research team developed a dedicated algorithm and hardware that convert audio into perceivable vibration patterns optimized for musical content.
Participants’ emotional responses were compared across two conditions: audio-only and combined audio-tactile feedback. The study also evaluated the impact of allowing participants to choose their own music.
Results showed that multisensory music significantly increased positive mood and reduced state anxiety compared with audio-only listening. Allowing listeners to select music they preferred further amplified these effects.
These findings underscore the potential of multisensory stimulation and embodied musical experiences for emotional regulation. The results also point to applications where controlled multisensory environments—such as VR systems with multifrequency haptic controllers—can create robust, emotionally engaging representations and support therapeutic use cases.