Vibrotactile identification of signal-processed sounds from environmental events.

This study compared three different signal-processing principles (eight basic algorithms)-transposing, modulating, and filtering-to find the principle(s)/algorithm(s) that resulted in the best tactile identification of environmental sounds. The subjects were 19 volunteers (9 female/10 male) who were between 18 and 50 years old and profoundly hearing impaired. We processed sounds produced by 45 representative environmental events with the different algorithms and presented them to subjects as tactile stimuli using a wide-band stationary vibrator.

Auditive identification of signal-processed environmental sounds: monitoring the environment.

The goal of the present study was to compare six transposing signal-processing algorithms based on different principles (Fourier-based and modulation based), and to choose the algorithm that best enables identification of environmental sounds, i.e. improves the ability to monitor events in the surroundings.