A sensory feedback system for prosthetic hand based on evoked tactile sensation

The lack of reliable sensory feedback has been one of the barriers in prosthetic hand development. Restoring sensory function from prosthetic hand to amputee remains a great challenge to neural engineering. In this paper, we present the development of a sensory feedback system based on the phenomenon of evoked tactile sensation (ETS) at the stump skin of residual limb induced by transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). The system could map a dynamic pattern of stimuli to an electrode placed on the corresponding projected finger areas on the stump skin. A pressure transducer placed at the tip of prosthetic fingers was used to sense contact pressure, and a high performance DSP processor sampled pressure signals, and calculated the amplitude of feedback stimulation in real-time. Biphasic and charge-balanced current pulses with amplitude modulation generated by a multi-channel laboratory stimulator were delivered to activate sensory nerves beneath the skin. We tested this sensory feedback system in amputee subjects. Preliminary results showed that the subjects could perceive different levels of pressure at the tip of prosthetic finger through evoked tactile sensation (ETS) with distinct grades and modalities. We demonstrated the feasibility to restore the perceptual sensation from prosthetic fingers to amputee based on the phenomenon of evoked tactile sensation (ETS) with TENS.