Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
Cogn Res Princ Implic. 2023 Jul 4;8(1):41. doi: 10.1186/s41235-023-00495-w.
Sensory substitution devices (SSDs) facilitate the detection of environmental information through enhancement of touch and/or hearing capabilities. Research has demonstrated that several tasks can be successfully completed using acoustic, vibrotactile, and multimodal devices. The suitability of a substituting modality is also mediated by the type of information required to perform the specific task. The present study tested the adequacy of touch and hearing in a grasping task by utilizing a sensory substitution glove. The substituting modalities inform, through increases in stimulation intensity, about the distance between the fingers and the objects. A psychophysical experiment of magnitude estimation was conducted. Forty blindfolded sighted participants discriminated equivalently the intensity of both vibrotactile and acoustic stimulation, although they experienced some difficulty with the more intense stimuli. Additionally, a grasping task involving cylindrical objects of varying diameters, distances and orientations was performed. Thirty blindfolded sighted participants were divided into vibration, sound, or multimodal groups. High performance was achieved (84% correct grasps) with equivalent success rate between groups. Movement variables showed more precision and confidence in the multimodal condition. Through a questionnaire, the multimodal group indicated their preference for using a multimodal SSD in daily life and identified vibration as their primary source of stimulation. These results demonstrate that there is an improvement in performance with specific-purpose SSDs, when the necessary information for a task is identified and coupled with the delivered stimulation. Furthermore, the results suggest that it is possible to achieve functional equivalence between substituting modalities when these previous steps are met.
感觉替代设备（SSD）通过增强触觉和/或听觉能力来辅助检测环境信息。研究表明，使用声学、振动触觉和多模态设备可以成功完成多项任务。替代模态的适用性也受到执行特定任务所需信息类型的影响。本研究通过使用感觉替代手套测试了触摸和听觉在抓握任务中的充分性。替代模态通过增加刺激强度来告知手指和物体之间的距离。进行了数量估计的心理物理实验。40 名蒙住眼睛的视力正常的参与者对等的辨别了振动触觉和声学刺激的强度，尽管他们对更强的刺激有些困难。此外，还进行了涉及不同直径、距离和方向的圆柱形物体的抓握任务。30 名蒙住眼睛的视力正常的参与者分为振动、声音或多模态组。高表现（84%的正确抓握）在组间取得了等效的成功率。在多模态条件下，运动变量显示出更高的精度和信心。通过问卷调查，多模态组表示他们愿意在日常生活中使用多模态 SSD，并将振动作为他们的主要刺激源。这些结果表明，当确定任务所需的必要信息并将其与提供的刺激相结合时，使用特定用途的 SSD 可以提高性能。此外，这些结果表明，当满足这些先前的步骤时，替代模态之间可能实现功能等效。
