Recent Developments in Haptic Devices Designed for Hearing-Impaired People: A Literature Review

Ramones, Alejandro Flores; Rio, Marta del

doi:10.3390/s23062968

Cited by 12 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…However speech recognition is not always adapted either, for instance if a user has a speech disorder [33,34]. Other ways to interact with the robot could be developed such as eye tracking, movement sensing technologies or haptic devices [23,33]. Several factors can be thought of for the manner of perceiving information, such as choosing visuals, sounds, or both.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Handling sensory disabilities in a smart society

Pivin-Bachler,

van den Broek,

Gomez

2024

SCS

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Billions of people live with visual and/or hearing impairments. Regrettably, their access to systems remains delayed, leaving them socially excluded. The need for universal access of next-generation systems and users’ inclusion is paramount. We pose that a smart society should respond to this crucial need. Following ability-based design principles, we introduce a simulated social robot that adapts to users’ sensory abilities. Its working was assessed via a Rock–Paper–Scissors game in an Intelligent Environment (IE), using three modes: where the user is able to see and hear, only see, or only hear. With this game, two user-studies were conducted using the UMUX-LITE usability score, an expectation rating, and the gap between experience and expectation, complemented with two open questions. A repeated measures Multivariate ANalysis Of VAriance (MANOVA) on the data from study 1 unveiled an overall difference between the three modes, F ( 6 , 6 ) = 6.823, η p 2 = .872, p = .017. Users expected applications to be harder to use with a disability, especially a visual impairment. All modes were considered accessible, with the experience exceeding expectations for the mode with a hearing impairment. In parallel, substantial variance was observed across participants and the results from the open questions suggested improvements. To reduce this variance and increase system stability, study 2 was run with an enhanced design. A repeated measures MANOVA on the data from study 2 confirmed study 1’s findings, F ( 6 , 6 ) = 12.801, η p 2 = .928, p = .003. Moreover, experiences exceeded expectations in all modes and the variance among participants was substantially decreased. We conclude that IE applications managed by a social robot can be adapted to user’s sensory abilities, improving smart society’s accessibility, and, hence, reducing social exclusion.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Handling sensory disabilities in a smart society

Pivin-Bachler,

van den Broek,

Gomez

2024

SCS

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“…11 The most recent literature review demonstrates on the potential of haptic devices, which applies tactile stimulation to the user, are capable of replacing sensory information especially on people with partial or complete loss of hearing. 12 These devices send perceptual signals in the forms of forces or through electrical inputs to the user's skin and body as skin plays an important role in perceiving and interacting with the environment. They elaborated the significance of developing these devices are worthwhile as it benefits the hearing impaired society in many ways such as experiencing music, alert the individual to critical sounds in their surroundings, etc.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hearing aid through skin sensory for profound deaf people

Suppiah

Maruthan²,

Abas

2023

F1000Res

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An individual with profound deafness or total hearing loss has a hearing threshold of 80dB or more. The ineffectiveness of hearing aids, surging costs and complex surgeries for cochlear implants have discouraged many to opt for these types of treatments. Hence, this research aims to provide an alternative hearing aid that stimulates “hearing” through the skin sensory, which is more affordable and accessible for the profoundly deaf or total hearing loss community. We have developed four initial vibrating transducers with single spectrum, which are strapped to a belt. The transducers pick up audible sounds through a microphone, amplifies the sound to a high-level signal, stimulating a vibration pattern on the human skin sensory. The belt was tested on 30 random people who identified as normal, partial, and profoundly deaf. When the belt was strapped to the individual’s waist, audible sound was played (stimulus) and the individual was asked whether he/she can feel a stimulation or vibration on their skin, and if so, state the sound source direction. Based on the test, all individuals were able to feel the vibrating stimulation on their skin, and they were also able to state the directions accurately. The various vibrating pattern that stimulates the human sensory system for the profoundly deaf can be learned over time, which could serve as useful information. However, interpreting and identifying the different types of vibrating pattern perceived through the skin remains a huge challenge for profoundly deaf people. As hearing through skin sensory is a very new area of research, there are very limited research articles published in this field. Thus far, this is the first study to evaluate the method of audio spectrum to develop hearing aid through skin sensory.

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“…It is also possible to reproduce the sense of touch and interact with the surrounding environment through devices, such as tactile display devices. A tactile display device allows users to feel and reproduce the sensation of tactility through a series of actions, such as force and vibration [ 6 ]. With the support of such devices, people can enjoy a sense of realism and immersion in the game world [ 7 , 8 ]; ensuring the timely and accurate completion of operational tasks in the field of teleoperation [ 9 ]; providing tactile navigation for firefighters in low-vision environments in disaster relief missions; enabling silent command in the battlefield; in the field of car driving, it can provide tactile warning for drivers and passengers to improve driving safety [ 10 ]; and enabling blind people to access a large amount of information, read newspapers [ 11 ], walk and execute simple self-care through tactile functions [ 12 ], which greatly improves their quality of life and reduces the burden on society.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Psychophysical Evaluation of a Novel Wearable Upper-Arm Tactile Display Device

Zhu

Liu

Gao

2023

Sensors

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A novel wearable upper arm tactile display device, which can simultaneously provide three types of tactile stimuli (i.e., squeezing, stretching, and vibration) is presented. The squeezing and stretching stimulation of the skin is generated by two motors simultaneously driving the nylon belt in the opposite and the same direction, respectively. In addition, four evenly spaced vibration motors are fixed around the user’s arm by an elastic nylon band. There is also a unique structural design for assembling the control module and actuator, powered by two lithium batteries, making it portable and wearable. Psychophysical experiments are conducted to investigate the effect of interference on the perception of squeezing and stretching stimulation by this device. Results show that (1) different tactile stimuli actually interfere with the user’s perception compared to the case where only one stimulus is applied to the user; (2) the squeezing has a considerable impact on the stretch just noticeable difference (JND) values when both stimuli are exerted on the user, and when the squeezing is strong, while the impact of stretch on the squeezing JND values is negligible.

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Recent Developments in Haptic Devices Designed for Hearing-Impaired People: A Literature Review

Cited by 12 publications

References 47 publications

Handling sensory disabilities in a smart society

Handling sensory disabilities in a smart society

Hearing aid through skin sensory for profound deaf people

Design and Psychophysical Evaluation of a Novel Wearable Upper-Arm Tactile Display Device

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