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Updated: Aug 12, 2025

Assessment of Audio-Tactile Sensory Substitution Training in Participants with Profound Deafness Using the Event-Related Potential Technique
Published on: September 7, 2022
The future of sensory substitution, addition, and expansion via haptic devices
David M Eagleman1,2, Michael V Perrotta2
1Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, United States.
Abstract:
Haptic devices use the sense of touch to transmit information to the nervous system. As an example, a sound-to-touch device processes auditory information and sends it to the brain via patterns of vibration on the skin for people who have lost hearing. We here summarize the current directions of such research and draw upon examples in industry and academia. Such devices can be used for sensory substitution (replacing a lost sense, such as hearing or vision), sensory expansion (widening an existing sensory experience, such as detecting electromagnetic radiation outside the visible light spectrum), and sensory addition (providing a novel sense, such as magnetoreception). We review the relevant literature, the current status, and possible directions for the future of sensory manipulation using non-invasive haptic devices.
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