Initial comparison of a tactile aid display with and without lateral inhibition

A tactile hearing aid was modified to test the ability of lateral inhibition to sharpen the perceived tactile display. The aid was based on amplitude- and time-quantized speech. The digital frequencies in the processes signal were detected and displayed via a linear array of electrodes using biphasic constant current pulses. In the lateral inhibition scheme the active electrode inhibits other electrodes that are plus or minus three electrodes away from it. Inhibition and no-inhibition schemes were tested with the two schemes in a forced choice test. No statistically significant difference could be detected between the two display schemes for the test material