Copyright © 2007 The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers
Regular Section -- Papers -- Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology |
Transfer Information Enhancement with a 2-D Tactile Stimulator Array for an Acoustic Vision Substitute System
1 The authors are with the Department of Communications and Computer Engineering, Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University, Kyoto-shi, 606–8501 Japan. E-mail: taki{at}aso.cce.i.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Existing vision substitute systems have insufficient spatial resolution to provide environmental information. To present detailed spatial information, we propose two stimulation methods to enhance transfer information using a 2-D tactile stimulator array. First, stimulators are divided into several groups. Since each stimulator group is activated alternately, the interval of stimulations can be shortened to less than the two-point discrimination threshold. In the case that stimulators are divided into two and four groups, the number of stimulators increases to twice and four times, respectively, that in the case of the two-point discrimination threshold. Further, a user selects the measurement range and the system presents targets within the range. The user acquires spatial information of the entire measurement area by changing the measurement range. This method can accurately present a range of targets. We examine and confirm these methods experimentally.
Key Words: vision substitute system, tactile, acoustic, hybrid method, human interface
Manuscript received July 24, 2006. Manuscript revised December 14, 2006.
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