Scalp-Targeted Haptic Proprioception for Upper-Limb Prosthetics

In this paper, a head-worn wearable haptic feedback device (WHFD) is developed to communicate sensory information from an upper-limb prosthesis. A 14-week, 6-stage, between-subjects study was created to investigate the learning trajectory as participants were stimulated with haptic patterns conveying joint proprioception. Healthy participants were divided into three groups, with each group using a different haptic stimulation methods. 18 participants completed the study within 7-14 weekly sessions, demonstrating that participants were, in fact, learning to interpret the haptic information. Participants in the spatiotemporal stimulation group had some advantages in interpreting the haptic information over the others; however, each stimulation method has advantages that can be exploited and hybridized for future models of the WHFD. Overall, the proposed WHFD is an effective non-invasive device that can promote greater sensory awareness for wearers of prostheses.