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Sensory Substitution for Tactile Feedback in Upper Limb Prostheses

Present commercially available prosthetic devices fall short when it comes to providing users with accurate and non-invasive tactile feedback from their artificial limb, leading to more difficult control and leaving many at a heightened risk of device rejection. Current methods of simulating hand sensation in patients affected by upper limb loss are either invasive and expensive, or otherwise sub-optimal in their feedback mechanism. Here we propose, build, and implement a novel device for tactile feedback in upper limb prostheses. The device consists of an adaptable tactile sensing glove that can be applied to existing artificial limbs and an audio feedback system that leverages the plasticity of the brain to communicate touch to the user through sensory substitution. This device aims to take advantage of the existing pathways between auditory and tactile sensory regions in the brain by mapping force magnitude and location from the integrated force sensors on the gloves to specific volume and frequency, respectively. The device was successfully manufactured for proof of concept, and further testing with prosthetic users will aim to assess the efficacy of the device and identify potential modifications for use in research and commercialization.