Becoming Mole with "FeltSight": Hyper-sensitizing the Surrounding through Mixed Reality Haptic Proximity Gloves

FeltSight is a mixed reality sensory-substitution experience that reimagines human perception through an alternative tactile umwelt, inspired by the star-nosed mole’s unique tactile navigation. Users engage in meditative wandering, guided by extended-range haptic sensing and subtle visual cues. The system features a pair of wearable haptic gloves with high-precision vibrotactile actuators on each finger, driven by audio-responsive patterns. These actuators re-sensitize the sense of touch and simulate material textures, enabling users to "feel" environmental surfaces as if their fingertips can tele-touch surrounding objects at a distance. The mixed reality headset provides a deliberately subtle "reduced reality," showing nearby objects as dynamic point clouds that serve as a "short-term perceptual memory," visualizing touched textures on surrounding surfaces. By shifting focus from visual to tactile perception, FeltSight challenges ocularcentric sensory hierarchies and elevates touch as a way to perceive the world. This approach invites users to experience the umgebung—the world that exists but typically goes unperceived—through substituted perception, exemplifying tentacular thinking for more-than-human awareness.