IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2020 Jun;28(6):1344-1352. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2020.2986222. Epub 2020 Apr 23.
This paper presents the design and fabrication of a wearable tactile communication interface with vibrotactile feedback for assistive communication. The interface is based on finger Braille, which is a simple and efficient tactile communication method used by deafblind people. It consists of a flexible piezoresistive sensor and a vibrotactile actuator integrated together and positioned at the index, middle and ring fingers of both hands to represent the six dots of Braille. The sensors were made using flexible piezoresistive material whereas the actuator utilizes electromagnetic principle by means of a flexible coil and a tiny NdFeB permanent magnet. Both were integrated to realize a Bluetooth-enabled tactile communication glove which enables deafblind people to communicate using Braille codes. The evaluation with 20 end-users (10 deafblind and 10 sighted and hearing person) of the tactile interface under standardized conditions demonstrated that users can feel and distinguish the vibration at frequencies ranging from 10Hz to 200Hz which is within the perceivable frequency range for the FA-II receptors. The results show that it took non-experts in Braille within 25s and 55s to send and receive words like "BEST" and "JOURNAL", with an accuracy of ~75% and 68% respectively.
本文提出了一种具有振动反馈的可穿戴触觉通信接口的设计与制作，用于辅助通信。该接口基于手指盲文，这是一种聋哑人使用的简单有效的触觉通信方法。它由一个灵活的压阻式传感器和一个振动执行器集成在一起，并位于双手的食指、中指和无名指上，代表盲文的六点。传感器由柔性压阻材料制成，而执行器则利用电磁原理，通过一个柔性线圈和一个微小的钕铁硼永磁体来实现。两者结合起来实现了一个具有蓝牙功能的触觉通信手套，使聋哑人能够使用盲文代码进行通信。在标准化条件下，对 20 名最终用户（10 名聋哑人和 10 名视力和听力正常的人）进行了触觉接口的评估，结果表明，用户可以感受到并区分 10Hz 到 200Hz 频率范围内的振动，这在 FA-II 受体的可感知频率范围内。结果表明，非盲文专家在 25 秒和 55 秒内分别可以发送和接收“BEST”和“JOURNAL”等单词，准确率分别约为 75%和 68%。
