We are often asked what part of the human body is most sensitive to touch. Where’s the first place you think of? Yeah, it’s true! That part is really sensitive! However, that’s likely not the most sensitive spot. It’s actually the fingertips! Four different sensing organs are in each tip of your fingers making them, by far, the best place to feel things (thank you, evolution).

Winner of Most Sensitive Award: Fingertips

Yes, the skin in your fingertips is jam-packed with tiny organs like Meissner's corpuscles, Merkel cells, Ruffini endings, and Pacinian corpuscles, all playing unique roles in sensing different types of touch. This gives us the ability to discern between different mechanically induced tactile sensations like skin stretch, pressure, and vibration (Björnsdotter, M. et al, 2009). Meissner's corpuscles, for instance, are most responsive to light touch and vibrations at low frequencies, while Merkel cells help us perceive pressure and texture. Ruffini endings are stimulated by sustained pressure and skin stretch, while Pacinian corpuscles detect deep pressure and high-frequency vibration (Johansson, R.S. et al, 2009).

But wait, there’s more! The fingertips have even more sensors that detect temperature and the change in temperature (also called thermal conductivity) to feel things like wetness. This impressive orchestra of sensors makes our fingertips, by far, the most adept area of the human body at feeling, well, anything!

The Underdogs: Least Sensitive Body Areas

Your next question might be, which areas of the body are the least sensitive? That's usually spots like our forearms, calves, and back. They're certainly not numb, but they can't quite compete with the sensitivity champ - our fingertips, which can sense tiny vibrations up to 1000 Hz. Just to put that in context, our eyes max out at around 30 Hz. Sensing organs in our skin and joints can even “feel” acoustic vibrations between 30 and 250 Hz which is partly why the deaf community loves low-frequency activities like motorcycling, bowling, and NASCAR. And we all love a good rocket launch, thanks to our skin.

What This Means For vring

Now, think about your smartphone. It's not always in your hands. It could be in a pocket, a bag, or strapped onto your arm during a workout. And each of these spots adds a bit of a twist to how we perceive vibration.

Consider when your phone is in your pocket. The haptic feedback needs to be strong enough to make its way through your clothing to your skin, which might not pick up the vibrations as well as your fingertips would. If your phone is in a bag or purse, you might not feel the buzz at all, given the extra layers and distance from your skin. With an armband, the vibration needs to be felt on the upper arm, which isn't as sensitive as our fingertips.

And here's a fun fact: if your phone is on a hard surface, you could potentially hear the buzz rather than feel it. But, this somewhat defeats the purpose of a 'silent' alert, as anyone nearby might hear your phone on the table. So, the sensitivity of our skin to touch can really affect how we design and interact with our tech.

How To Receive Your vrings 

For vring, this poses an interesting issue: your best chance of taking advantage of the vibration messages is when you’re holding your phone with your fingertips. Although this isn’t an issue for the groups of teenages who roam shopping malls while holding their phones, if you strap your phone to your arm when you exercise, you’ll likely not feel much more than your most obnoxious vrings. How about in your back pocket? Well, that’s better! (But still way less effective than a finger grasp.) 

The best compromise? Put your phone in your front pocket, and then rest your fingers on your phone through the material. It’s easy to do at a meeting, in a theater, and perfect for when you’re driving. Even through another material, the ability for the fingertips to sense vibration is unparalleled.

To Case or Not to Case: The vring Dilemma

The question of whether to use a phone case is a tough one. Many of us can't imagine risking our phones without a protective case to guard against those inevitable mishaps. One of the key reasons we created vring was to reduce the need to take out your phone to look at messages, lowering the chances of accidental phone-launches. But the ‘Catch-22’ is that some ultra-durable phone cases can indeed dampen the ability to feel the physical pattern of vibration. The more rubbery the case, the less you'll feel, underscoring the importance of using your fingertips once more!

Wrapping Up 

So, where does this leave us? Well, our body's unique sensitivity and the way we carry and protect our phones can shape how we experience and interact with “new” haptic technologies. The very heart of innovation lies in understanding and integrating these human factors into the design and usage of technology.

After all, our fingertips, the most sensitive touch detectors we have, are crucial to the effectiveness of physical sensations in the new marketplace of augmented and virtual reality. With vring, we grab hold of our inherent natural abilities for technology and design, taking advantage of that most under-utilized channel of information we call ‘touch.’