Shun Nagaoka (D1) and colleagues from the Cybernetics and Reality Engineering Laboratory received the WIT Student Research Encouragement Award and the Human Communication Award at the 131st Technical Committee on Welfare Information Technology (WIT) meeting.
The Technical Committee on Welfare Information Technology (WIT) is a professional committee belonging to the Human Communication Group (HCG) of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE). It serves as a forum for presenting and discussing research results that lead the development of welfare information engineering—including advanced information and communication technologies, science, cognitive science, language processing, and Human Interface (HI)—aimed at addressing various information and communication challenges faced by people with disabilities and the elderly. This research meeting was held on August 29, 2025, at the Waseda University Nishi-Waseda Campus (Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo).
The research presented by Mr. Nagaoka, titled “Exploration and Analysis of Structure in Color-Vibration Crossmodal Correspondences for Sensory Substitution Interfaces Supporting Color Identification,” summarizes the findings of an investigation into “crossmodal correspondences”—unconscious and natural associations between different sensory modalities—between color and vibration, with the ultimate goal of developing a color identification support device for individuals with color vision deficiencies. The social significance and originality of this research were highly evaluated, leading to the WIT Student Research Encouragement Award. Furthermore, the study received the Human Communication Award (HC Award) from the IEICE Human Communication Group (HCG). The HC Award is the most prestigious award granted by the HCG, selected from all technical reports presented over the past year across its four constituent committees (HCS, HIP, MVE, WIT), with a selection rate of approximately one in every 50 papers. This recognition is expected to drive further research progress and real-world applications in the future.
Awardees/Authors:
Shun Nagaoka (1st-year Doctoral Course), Yutaro Hirao, Monica Perusquía-Hernández, Hideaki Uchiyama, Kiyoshi Kiyokawa
Research theme:
“Exploration and Analysis of Structure in Color-Vibration Crossmodal Correspondences for Sensory Substitution Interfaces Supporting Color Identification”
Aiming to realize color identification support that does not depend on vision, this research attempts to elucidate crossmodal correspondences between color and tactile sensations. In this paper, using vibration—which offers excellent responsiveness and portability—as a tactile stimulus, we conducted a task where participants searched for sensorially corresponding vibrations (within a frequency range of 30-250 Hz and amplitude of 0-100%) for seven colors (purple, dark blue, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red) under two conditions: varying luminance and unified luminance. The results showed that color-vibration correspondences depend strongly on the perceptual characteristics of the color stimulus. While mappings based on perceptual luminance (such as brightness) are dominant, the results indicated a strategy shift: when luminance cues are lost, mappings based on personal semantic or emotional interpretations become predominant. These findings provide important guidelines for the design of sensory substitution interfaces that balance universality and individuality in color-vibration correspondences.
Awardee’s voice
“I am extremely honored to receive both the WIT Student Research Encouragement Award and the Human Communication Award. As someone who personally lives with a color vision deficiency, receiving these awards has given me great confidence to continue my research. I intend to further refine my research to provide practical solutions. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the professors of the Cybernetics and Reality Engineering Laboratory for their guidance on my writing and research. Thank you very much.”
Link to：
Technical Committee on Welfare Information Technology (WIT) HP: https://www.ieice.org/~wit/
