SoftHeart: Haptic Heart-Rate Sharing to Enrich Social Cues in Social VR Interaction

Communication in virtual environments is often hindered by diminished social cues and the absence of physical co-presence. To address this challenge, we present SoftHeart, a soft, handheld interface that mirrors a remote partner’s heartbeat through continuous physical deformation in virtual reality. In a mixed-design study with 24 participants, we manipulated heart-rate sharing within subjects (no sharing, visual-only, soft deformation) and included a between-subjects factor comparing close friends and romantic couples. Our results show that this embodied physiological sharing elicited significantly higher ratings of social connection, social presence, spatial presence, and empathy than visual-only or no sharing. These findings suggest that conveying a partner’s cardiac rhythm through tangible, soft deformations acts as a powerful background relational cue, effectively enhancing interpersonal attunement and restoring embodied social connection in VR.