Easton R D
Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
Optom Vis Sci. 1992 Jan;69(1):3-14. doi: 10.1097/00006324-199201000-00002.
A program of research dealing with two types of sensory aids for the blind--sonar and vibrotactile--is described. Rather than immediately assessing the aids in the mobility context, which has customarily been the case, the aids' capabilities are considered in terms of the major functions of vision, that is, the exteroceptive perception of objects, surfaces, and events of the environment, and the proprioceptive perception of the self, especially the self in relation to the environment. Although sonar aids function very well for localizing objects and for providing acoustic flow specifying self-movement, they do not provide high acuity pattern and shape information due to the long wavelength of ultrasound relative to light. This limitation is considered specifically with respect to the visual accomplishment of recovery of three-dimensional structure/motion from dynamic two-dimensional images. Vibrotactile sensory aids using optical imaging can deliver detailed pattern information to the skin and thus permit assessment of the extent to which a nonvisual system can mediate the recovery of structure problem. However, in even moderately cluttered or complicated environments the skin proves unable to resolve the amount of stimulation it receives vibrotactually. The limitations of sonar and vibrotactile sensory aids are discussed with respect to future sensory substitution efforts as well as their implications for understanding differences and similarities among the senses.
本文描述了一项针对盲人的两种感官辅助设备——声纳和振动触觉——的研究计划。与通常的做法不同，该研究并非立即在移动情境中评估这些辅助设备，而是从视觉的主要功能角度来考虑它们的能力，即对物体、表面以及环境事件的外部感知，以及对自身的本体感知，特别是自身与环境相关的感知。尽管声纳辅助设备在定位物体和提供指示自身运动的声流方面功能良好，但由于超声波相对于光的波长较长，它们无法提供高清晰度的图案和形状信息。这一局限性在从动态二维图像恢复三维结构/运动的视觉成果方面被特别加以考虑。使用光学成像的振动触觉感官辅助设备可以向皮肤传递详细的图案信息，从而能够评估非视觉系统在多大程度上可以介导结构恢复问题。然而，即使在中等程度杂乱或复杂的环境中，皮肤也被证明无法分辨通过振动触觉所接收的刺激量。文中讨论了声纳和振动触觉感官辅助设备在未来感官替代研究方面的局限性，以及它们对于理解不同感官之间异同的影响。
