The project described herein is expected to produce significant improvements in electrotactile communication technology specifically oriented towards tactile auditory sensory substitution. Presently, the design of stimulator arrays, the processing of auditory information to produce tactile stimuli and the user training methods have not been optimized for the most effective perception.This effort will utilize existing experimental Electrotactile Auditory (ETA) instrumentation developed by Sevrain-Tech with the addition of a computer-based stimulus pattern generator to analyze the elements of combined spatial, temporal and intensity effects of ETA using volunteer hearing and hearing impaired subjects. The result of this investigation will be applied to the development of new acoustic analysis and stimulator array design for enhanced ETA perception of spoken language to benefit the profoundly deaf by making available a practical portable ETA device.Commercial Applications:Practical, portable electrotactile prostheses for the profoundly deaf are presently available in their essentially original form; their use is not widespread. The design of improved signal analysis systems and stimulators to increase the users' accuracy of perception and decrease training time will vastly impact the commercialization of these beneficial devices.
