Electrocutaneous Stimulation for Information Transmission – I: Optimum Waveform Eliciting Stable Sensation without Discomfort

Abstract

A number of investigations have recently been performed with electrocutaneous stimulation in order to transmit information from machine to man. In one field of rehabilitation engineering, cutaneous sensation has been employed to substitute the lost sensory channel: for example 1n cases of the blind, the deaf, etc. Electrocutaneous stimulation and recent advances on microelectronics enable sensory aids for the handicapped to become more portable. However, the sensation elicited by electrocutaneous stimulation is unstable and unreliable. In this study a lot of parameters of electrocutaneous stimulation were experimentally evaluated by psychophysical methods in order to find an optimum condition of the stimulation. Most investigations have averted the following problems: stable and painless sensation must be elicited while stimuli are applied to the skin. The threshold values of skin sensation are very much scattered by the inhomogeneity of skin impedance and the distribution of tactile receptors. The contact of an electrode with the skin surface is also inhomoge-neous. A sudden pricking sensation is often associated with electrocutaneous stimuli of constant current under the pain threshold. Adaptation effects are also associated with the stimuli. They must be eliminated to elicit stable and comfortable sensation. In this paper, the authors found an optimum condition of electrocutaneous stimulation. This wave form can elicit skin sensation at any point on the skin. Bipolar constant voltage pulse trains in bursts are suitable for our purpose.

Keywords

electrocutaneous stimulation threshold skin sensations dynamic range pulse train sensory aid tactile adaptation Information transmission electrode

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