Multidimensional electrocutaneous stimulation.

Probing the subjective response to a five-parameter electrocutaneous stimulus has revealed a noisy perceptual space. A method for reducing the noise is hypothesized and experimentally tested by comparing the intensity discrimination thresholds along and off the energy gradient. Preliminary results show a reduction of the threshold of up to 60% when stimulating along the gradient. The method is exploited to implement an optimal intensity control in an electrotactile vision-substitution device.

[1]  S. Aiba.  Psychophysics of vision , 1970 .

[2]  Frank A. Saunders,et al.  Electrocutaneous Stimulation for Sensory Communication in Rehabilitation Engineering , 1982, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[3]  John G. Webster,et al.  Voltage-current characteristics of the electrotactile skin-electrode interface , 1989, Images of the Twenty-First Century. Proceedings of the Annual International Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society,.

[4]  H. Hensel,et al.  Problems of Correlating Cutaneous Sensation with Neural Events in Man , 1979 .

[5]  P J Blamey,et al.  A wearable multiple-electrode electrotactile speech processor for the profoundly deaf. , 1985, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[6]  Tom N. Cornsweet.  X – COLOR VISION III–THE PERCEPTION OF COLOR , 1970 .

[7]  J. Webster,et al.  Maximal dynamic range electrotactile stimulation waveforms , 1992, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[8]  G. L. Aiello,et al.  Psychophysical Response to Electrocutaneous Stimulation , 1984, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[9]  Leo Maurice Hurvich,et al.  Color vision , 1981 .

[10]  N I Durlach,et al.  Multidimensional tactile displays: identification of vibratory intensity, frequency, and contactor area. , 1987, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.