CHS: Small: Rethinking Haptic-Based Remote Communication Leveraging the DeafBlind Community's Tactile Intuitions

有两种感觉丧失的人--视觉和听觉--如何交流？他们必须依靠另一种感觉-触摸。相比之下，目前的环境充满了偏向视觉和听觉渠道的通信技术。个人在移动的电话上交谈，通过视频会议聊天，或通过各种短信应用程序发送消息。在没有身体接触的情况下，人们可以通过各种方式进行联系。尽管新技术取得了进步，但远程通信工具中基本上缺少丰富的触摸反馈。大多数情况下，触摸反馈被用作提示机制，例如通过振动来提醒用户消息的到达，但传达的内容很少。触摸反馈的缺失阻止了许多新技术捕捉体验的社会和情感维度，并使那些依赖触摸作为主要通信手段的人无法使用新技术。这个项目重新思考基于触摸的远程通信，通过利用触觉DeafBlind（DB）社区的触觉直觉。从这个创新的社区，一种新的语言正在出现，使人类能够通过触摸彼此交流。该项目与DB社区合作，旨在了解直观的基于触摸的通信信号的核心功能。研究结果将为新的可穿戴设备的设计提供信息，这些设备试图复制这些基于触摸的配置文件，为所有人提供更丰富的远程通信体验。本项目的研究目标是：（a）了解本地和远程交互的核心组成部分如何通过触觉感官通道重新路由;（B）设计技术，通过扩大和加强用户的触觉能力来支持这种重新路由。为了实现这些目标，人类学的沟通方法与工程合成，以驱动可穿戴触觉设备的设计，通过触觉反馈实现通信的核心功能。使用快速人种学加上触觉系统设计，这项工作将建立基于网络的通信方案的指导方针，同时创建一个平台，从独立的远程通信DB个人之间可以发展和更丰富的通信体验，为所有个人是可能的。该项目将增加对触觉通道作为主要通信模式的普遍理解。它还将促进对人类多模式交流能力的理解，在所有感官都可用的情况下促进最佳信息传递，并在存在感官差异的情况下促进更高的信息获取标准。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

How would persons with 2 sensory losses - vision and hearing - communicate? They have to rely on another sense for that - touch. In contrast, the current environment is saturated with communication technologies that are skewed toward the visual and auditory channels. Individuals talk on mobile phones, chat via video conferencing, or message through various texting applications. Without being physically present with one another, individuals can connect in a variety of ways. Despite advances in new technologies, rich touch feedback is largely missing in remote communication tools. Most often, touch feedback is used as a cueing mechanism such as through vibrations that alert the user about the arrival of a message but convey little of its content. The omission of touch feedback prevents many new technologies from capturing the social and emotional dimensions of the experience and leaves new technologies inaccessible to those who rely on touch as a primary means of communication. This project rethinks touch-based, remote communication by leveraging the tactile intuitions of the protactile DeafBlind (DB) community. From this innovative community, a new language is emerging that enables humans to communicate with one another solely through touch. This project, in partnership with the DB community, aims to understand the core functions of intuitive, touch-based communication signals. Findings will inform the design of new wearable devices that attempt to replicate these touch-based profiles for richer remote communication experiences for all individuals. The research goals of this project are to (a) understand how core components of local and remote interaction can be re-routed through the tactile sensory channel and (b) design technology which will support such re-routings by expanding and reinforcing the tactile capacities of its users. To accomplish these aims, anthropological approaches to communication are synthesized with engineering to drive the design of a wearable haptic device that enables core functions of communication via tactile feedback. Using rapid ethnography coupled with haptic systems design, this work will establish guidelines for tactile-based communication schemes while creating a platform from which independent remote communication among DB individuals can evolve and richer communication experiences for all individuals are possible. This project will increase the general understanding of the tactile channel as a primary mode of communication. It will also advance understanding of human abilities to communicate in multimodal ways, promoting optimal information transfer when all senses are available and promoting higher standards for access of information when sensory differences exist.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.