Surface Vibrotactile Texture Feedback: A Scoping Review of Perceptual Evidence, Rendering Strategies, and Evaluation Practices

Surface vibrotactile texture feedback is an important HCI modality for conveying material-related information and supporting multisensory interaction. However, evidence across perception, rendering, actuation, parameter mapping, and evaluation remains fragmented. This scoping review synthesized 79 studies published between 1997 and 2025 using PRISMA-ScR-informed procedures. Research focused mainly on roughness perception and texture discrimination, with less attention to material correspondence, affective experience, and contextual performance. Rendering approaches included parametric synthesis, model-based generation, recorded-signal reproduction, and data-driven mapping. Their effectiveness depended on perceptual cues, exploratory behavior, and actuator–surface–finger dynamics, limiting evidence for transferable one-to-one parameter–perception mappings. Evaluations were heterogeneous and typically used small samples to assess short-term perceptual outcomes. We therefore developed an evidence-informed five-stage experience-to-rendering framework: outcome definition, perceptual cue selection, actuator configuration matching, parameter mapping and calibration, and iterative evaluation, providing a structured basis for designing and evaluating surface vibrotactile textures.