BASIC AND APPLIED STUDIES OF TACTILE PERCEPTION

拟议的研究将基础和应用实验室研究与 临床和教育方法，以提供有关 触觉系统的基本能力及其设计与评价 聋人言语感知的触觉辅助器。 在基础研究中，触觉系统的时间特性是 使用幅度调制刺激和掩蔽范例概述 振荡式刺激演示。这些时间能力的知识，在 除了他们的基础研究兴趣，应该被证明是有用的 设计有效的触觉辅助器。 在应用实验室、临床和教育试验中，有三种不同的 将对实验性触觉辅助设备的类型进行评估。首先，研究将 继续使用由VERY佩戴在胸部的单通道振动触觉辅助工具 以确定援助是否会改善他们的听力 注意并发出声音的能力。第二，双耳双声道 将在成人身上测试耳模振动刺激器的潜力 作为一种语音辅助工具，既可以单独使用，也可以作为听觉和触觉混合辅助工具的一部分。 最后，多通道(16个或更多)辅助振动的有效性 提高儿童对言语的理解和理解的准确性 CID学校招收的聋哑儿童将对口语进行评估。 来自这些研究的信息应该确定在哪些情况下 每种类型的援助都可能是有用的，并指出在以下方面需要改进 每种辅助物的设计。

The proposed research combines basic and applied laboratory studies with clinical and educational approaches to provide new information about the basic abilities of the tactile system and the design and evaluation of tactile aids for speech perception by deaf persons. In basic studies, the temporal properties of the tactile system are outlined using amplitude-modulated stimuli and masking paradigms with vibratory stimulus presentation. Knowledge of these temporal abilities, in addition to their basic research interest, should prove useful for the design of effective tactile aids. In applied laboratory, clinical and educational trials, three different types of experimental tactile aids will be evaluated. First, studies will continue with a single-channel vibrotactile aid worn on the chest by very young deaf children, to determine whether the aid will improve their ability to attend to and produce sounds. Second, a binaural two-channel earmold vibratory stimulator will be tested with adults for its potential as a speech aid, both alone and as part of a hybrid auditory-tactile aid. Finally, the effectiveness of multichannel (16 or more) vibratory aids in improving the understanding of speech and the accuracy of a child's own speaking will be evaluated with deaf children enrolled in the CID school. Information from these studies should determine the situations in which each type of aid might be useful, and also point out needed improvements in the design of each kind of aid.