Vibrotactile Sensory Substitution for Electromyographic Control of Object Manipulation

It has been shown that incorporating augmentative vibrotactile feedback can improve performance of a virtual object manipulation task using finger movement. Vibrotactile sensory substitution for prosthetic applications, however, will necessarily not involve actual finger movement for control. Here we study the utility of such feedback when using myoelectric (EMG) signals for control, and demonstrate task improvement and learning for a force-motion task in a virtual environment. Using vibrotactile feedback, a group of unimpaired participants (N = 10) were able to increase performance in a single session. We go on to study the feasibility of this method for two prosthetic hand users, one of whom had targeted muscle reinnervation allowing the augmentative feedback to be perceived as if it were on the absent hand.