In a method and apparatus for providing haptic feedback representing
tissue elasticity, measured data based on a measurement of the elasticity
of body tissue in non-contacting fashion are supplied to a machine/human
interface that conveys haptic feedback information to a user dependent on
the measured data. The machine/human interface enables the user to
perform a relative virtual motion around a starting point in a selected
tissue region. The user can thus "feel" the elasticity of tissue that is
not non-invasively accessible to a touch examination from the outside. A
virtual boundary of a tissue region under examination can be defined and
the user, by the haptic feedback, also feels if and when this virtual
boundary is reached.